Hotel Rooms
Duration: 2015- ongoing
Medium: Albumen Prints from digital negatives.
Note: Photos below contain nudity, rated 18+, and are strictly Not Safe For Work. Viewer discretion is advised.
I began experimenting with nude 'self-portraits' when I was in high school, even before I was familiar with the term. My schooling years involved playing the piano, singing in the choir, flaunting my long hair, and was a disaster at every sport. I was perceived as too “feminine”, in contrast to the jock boys in leather jackets, cool shades, obsessed with sports and video games. As a result, I struggled with body image issues and bullying. Luckily, I grew up to not cave into biases and conformities based on gender binaries. Although the photographs presented me with a lot of mockery from peers, professors, and my family, this immersive process was my growth. I began to construct narratives as a way to navigate my pain. Isolating in a room by myself from all the unrest around me, making these photographs of myself gave me a sense of grounding and a way to build a relationship of acceptance with myself.
As I started travelling extensively for commercial work, I found myself lodging at various hotels. Shuffling across these rooms of a myriad spectrum, I found a sense of calmness in these rooms as though I was in a gigantic box made up of mirrors: all these perceptions were actually my own and how I looked at myself. Although mirrors are often a projection of who we want to see ourself as, these photographs facilitate how I truly am. I am more aware of how my body looks, what makes me look conventionally appealing, what makes me feel comfortable, and how much I have changed physically and mentally through these rooms over the years. Traveling alone gave me the headspace to immerse into this “private” space that I occupied temporarily. The scale of the hotel, the location's weather conditions, and the amount of sunlight entering the space, made my mood and skin react differently in an otherwise generic room. In a place (unlike a home) which is also occupied by many other travellers, who come to seek rest, I took the creative opportunity to document my vulnerabilities in this constantly shifting environment through self portraits. Hotel rooms has become the default way of being for me.
Read MoreMedium: Albumen Prints from digital negatives.
Note: Photos below contain nudity, rated 18+, and are strictly Not Safe For Work. Viewer discretion is advised.
I began experimenting with nude 'self-portraits' when I was in high school, even before I was familiar with the term. My schooling years involved playing the piano, singing in the choir, flaunting my long hair, and was a disaster at every sport. I was perceived as too “feminine”, in contrast to the jock boys in leather jackets, cool shades, obsessed with sports and video games. As a result, I struggled with body image issues and bullying. Luckily, I grew up to not cave into biases and conformities based on gender binaries. Although the photographs presented me with a lot of mockery from peers, professors, and my family, this immersive process was my growth. I began to construct narratives as a way to navigate my pain. Isolating in a room by myself from all the unrest around me, making these photographs of myself gave me a sense of grounding and a way to build a relationship of acceptance with myself.
As I started travelling extensively for commercial work, I found myself lodging at various hotels. Shuffling across these rooms of a myriad spectrum, I found a sense of calmness in these rooms as though I was in a gigantic box made up of mirrors: all these perceptions were actually my own and how I looked at myself. Although mirrors are often a projection of who we want to see ourself as, these photographs facilitate how I truly am. I am more aware of how my body looks, what makes me look conventionally appealing, what makes me feel comfortable, and how much I have changed physically and mentally through these rooms over the years. Traveling alone gave me the headspace to immerse into this “private” space that I occupied temporarily. The scale of the hotel, the location's weather conditions, and the amount of sunlight entering the space, made my mood and skin react differently in an otherwise generic room. In a place (unlike a home) which is also occupied by many other travellers, who come to seek rest, I took the creative opportunity to document my vulnerabilities in this constantly shifting environment through self portraits. Hotel rooms has become the default way of being for me.
