Photography
My work began as a form of documentation, an attempt to make sense of the beautiful
disorder in my father’s atelier. The clothes draped over every surface, the bolts of fabric leaning
against the walls, the organized chaos of a creative mind constantly in the middle of ten ideas
ahead of its own hands. I brought my camera, hoping to document it plainly. What I found
instead was something I hadn’t expected to look for. It was during his first collection in 2006, the
one he worked on in the year I was born, that the work shifted. Shooting in that space, with those
particular garments, light began to feel less like a tool and more like a language. By playing with
movement and long exposure, I wasn’t just photographing fabric, I was recreating that sensation
of being a small child in his studio, watching my father build beauty from nothing, the way it
looked to me then, like magic.
Those early memories have a texture all their own. The shimmer of silk under the
fluorescent lights, the rustle of a hem being pinned, the sequins and straight pins scattered across
the creaky wooden floorboards of our old loft apartment in Chelsea. I used to play dress up in
that space, draping myself in unfinished things, enchanted without fully understanding what I
was enchanted by. These photographs are my attempt to return to that feeling, not to recreate it
literally, but to recover its quality, the warmth of it, the sense of being small inside something
beyond your own comprehension. This body of work is, at its core, about inheritance, what we
absorb from our parents, and what it means to grow up inside someone else’s creative world and
slowly, finding a way to say it back through my own creative language
My work began as a form of documentation, an attempt to make sense of the beautiful
disorder in my father’s atelier. The clothes draped over every surface, the bolts of fabric leaning
against the walls, the organized chaos of a creative mind constantly in the middle of ten ideas
ahead of its own hands. I brought my camera, hoping to document it plainly. What I found
instead was something I hadn’t expected to look for. It was during his first collection in 2006, the
one he worked on in the year I was born, that the work shifted. Shooting in that space, with those
particular garments, light began to feel less like a tool and more like a language. By playing with
movement and long exposure, I wasn’t just photographing fabric, I was recreating that sensation
of being a small child in his studio, watching my father build beauty from nothing, the way it
looked to me then, like magic.
Those early memories have a texture all their own. The shimmer of silk under the
fluorescent lights, the rustle of a hem being pinned, the sequins and straight pins scattered across
the creaky wooden floorboards of our old loft apartment in Chelsea. I used to play dress up in
that space, draping myself in unfinished things, enchanted without fully understanding what I
was enchanted by. These photographs are my attempt to return to that feeling, not to recreate it
literally, but to recover its quality, the warmth of it, the sense of being small inside something
beyond your own comprehension. This body of work is, at its core, about inheritance, what we
absorb from our parents, and what it means to grow up inside someone else’s creative world and
slowly, finding a way to say it back through my own creative language.
The Impact of Social Media on Teenage Girls
My project explores how social media affects young teen girls. Through photography and interviews, I captured the emotional and psychological impact that online culture has on their sense of self. Over the course of this project, I interviewed 8 girls, 4 of which were more intimate.
This body of work is deeply personal to me. During my own high school years, I struggled with the pressures and expectations created by social media, the constant comparisons, the feeling of needing to look or act a certain way to be accepted, and the sense of missing out when I didn’t. Through the stories and portraits of these girls, I recognized many of the same struggles I faced: issues with body image, self-worth, confidence, and the blurred boundary between reality and the idealized world online.
By photographing and listening to these young women, I wanted to highlight how deeply these pressures can shape identity and mental health, both positively and negatively. The work reflects both the vulnerability and resilience of girls growing up in a digital world that constantly tells them who to be.
IMPRINTTherese (Honey), my Great Aunt with whom I share a name, was an unbelievable weaver. As she was passing away, my mother sat by her side, and when she held her, she saw for the first time that they shared the same hands. At that moment, my mother committed to her that she would always use them as she did to create beauty. Imprint is an ongoing body of work that illustrates my artistic self-discovery through the study of my familial lineage in the arts and gaining a deeper understanding of myself through how they use their hands to craft. My mother's dad and grandfather were passionate photographers, collecting cameras and deeply caring for the medium. They expressed their affection for their family by documenting the intimate details of their lives. This influence deeply impacted my mother, Christina, who similarly pursued photography as a teenager and has taken on dozens of different artistic mediums. Her love for image-making brought her to New York.My father, Joel, is a Dominican fashion designer and a multitalented fine artist who, since 2006, has built an incredibly successful business/atelier. Growing up, his mom ran an atelier business where he would intern for her in the Dominican Republic, creating dresses and tailoring, which is where my dad first fell in love with the craft.When I started this project, I initially intended to focus solely on my art to demonstrate self-discovery by mimicking my youthful exuberance, rediscovering abandoned creativity inspired by engrained childhood images. Though I stumbled upon my mother and father's old works from their youth, enthralled, I realized there was a lack of thorough exploration of my deep familial roots in artistry, which inspired the beginnings of this piece and will forever remain an evolving body of work. This body of work was exhibited at the International Center of Photography, where I am now an alumnus, having completed the year-long Imagemakers course.
Inmost Soul. In this ongoing series, I rediscover my abandoned creative self. Inspired by engrained childhood images and releasing the inhibition that comes with age, I explored this freedom of expression. Shot on Canon 6D with LED Soft flood, Lume Cube and projection. 2023
Cyprus Weichberger - Studio shoot
44nd & Broadway. Pentax K1000 Tri-X 400 July 2023.
Musings. Exploring the power and poetry of reflections. 2023
MY BODY DOES NOT DEFINE ME - Self portrait series
Anthony Luciano Studio. 2023
Anthony Luciano Studio. 2023
My Vanity - self portrait series
17-year-old music producer Ruby Deena . 2023
Luna and Billy. Summer 2023
Italy 2023. Pentax K1000. TriX and Fuji 400
