Perennial Breath: A Tapestry of Faces.

Somewhere in the woods of my hometown there lived an abandoned house, and for five years, each summer I would go to the house to observe its decay. I witnessed the wallpaper change from salmon pink to light green as moss grew over it. I noticed vines sneaking through the cracks of the floors, and saw little flowers growing out of the cushions of the worn-out couch. Overwhelmed by the immense amount of life despite the decaying home, I realized nature was alive. The structure of the home personified humanity; made by the hands of man it stood strong, but could “live” only by the hands of man maintaining it. Each person experiences a different journey but arrives at the same conclusion. The human experience is fleeting–moments are made into memory, memories are created into stories, and stories become history. It is in nature that a true essence of infinite life reveals itself. Each portrait is placed side-by-side, together–as one–a shared humanity that strips away age, gender, race, and cultural or ethnic boundaries. The flowers, moss, and leaves accompany the individual from life to death, with the cycling ebb and flow of the plants first growing on and then wilting off each face. Perennial Breath: A Tapestry of Faces is a quilt-knit of “breathing” photographic portraits that praise nature being alive. (Prototype: https://vimeo.com/187471892) Even in the most somber of subjects, such as death, nature consumes what is dead and creates life from it. I have captured portraits of approximately 200 people thus far, and the aid of the Lensculture Award will help bring this project to fruition. Thank you for your consideration.