In this Moment
Taking these photographs with my iPhone camera has been incredibly fun. With so little to fiddle with in terms of camera settings, the work is mainly about composition. The process involves noticing and rearranging and watching light and then working fast to take the pictures.
Am I drawn to these pictures because my mother loved thrifting? Because we were deeply happy together in this pursuit, finding treasure.
Am I forever enamored with the hope of second chances? The kindness of sharing and passing along second-hand things. The beauty of resourcefulness and constraints. I’m a girl who loves constraints. Give me a boundary and I’ll snuggle up to it.
Am I circling the idea that shopping might a be way that I numb myself and avoid those difficult feelings? Or is thrifting simply another version of wandering through a museum to soak up inspiration?
In these little thrift shops, there are no shelves of shame. I shop and take pictures. I try to be vulnerable and to see the vulnerability of others. My heart is open and I feel unexpected moments of compassion for us all. This is my no pictures diptych: compassion and vulnerability, side-by-side companions.