ARTIST STATEMENT
As a documentary photographer, my work explores the relationship between the photographer and subject. I am interested in the way that power and the agency of the subject can be shown through both photographs and the actual act of photography itself. Photographs can try to be a “truthful” reflection of the world, but the truth is something that is negotiated between the photographer and the subject and the viewer. Even though the medium of photography seems to have no limits, my work shows how the relationship between the subject and photographer already limits the way the viewer sees and understands the photographs.
In March of 2019, I began documenting the life of Martin, an immigrant who was working at a slaughterhouse in Queens. As I spent more time documenting Martin and his friends from the slaughterhouse, an interesting and yet complicated friendship developed between us. After the sudden death of Armando, who was in this group, I was forced to reconsider once again the complicated relationship between a photographer and their subject. Through the sharing the act of photographing with Martin, I try to share power with the subjects and see how the pictures function between us as our relationship changed from photographer and subject to friends. While the project shows the life of a New York immigrant, it more importantly reflects on how they and I look at each other and where and what our relationship is through photography.