In 2015, I was diagnosed with anxiety, and in 2018, I was diagnosed with depression. I felt alone–no one close to me had experienced anything similar. I was fortunate enough to find a small group of friends who all faced similar situations. Anxiety. Depression. Bipolar disorder. PTSD.

In these similarities, I found inspiration for this series of photographs. Through my own struggles and by asking my friends to relay their individual experiences, I developed my ideas. Ideas of loneliness, despair, and gloom in the midst of hope, optimism, and healing.

For this project, I was not interested in representing color. I was interested in the interactions between black and white–how they battle against each other to command attention–like a battle between a dark evil and a bright hero or between good and bad thoughts.