I grew up dreaming of art school. My parents raised me on stories of their time in their 20s surrounded by other artists unified by their collective love of creation. So when it finally became my turn to rise into my practice, I was devastated by the momentary fall of society as Covid swept the nation. I remember sitting isolated in a family friend's apartment in brooklyn, locked in with my parents, scared that once they departed, I would be alone. The promise that I would self actualize in college surrounded by people like me felt impossibly out of reach.
My first home in New York city was a dorm in University Hall: room 311. I shared this space with a young woman named Tiffany Zhao. Despite both of us being from California I quickly discovered that is where the similarities ended. Once again another piece of my dream chipped away by circumstance. Due to health concerns with Covid I was unable to interact with the other photography students in my classes, in person, so the biggest point of contact in my university life was as a business student. Yet then the strangest thing happened: the two of us through trial and error found a unique kind of relationship I had yet to have previously. Like sisters we grew alongside each other, with different dreams and perspectives in life. Differences were actually the biggest value.
From that moment I realized I was given an opportunity. As time went by, my once isolated life in NYC started to fill with people I deemed unexpected. I had found a found family. On the surface you may not understand why we love each other. On the surface we have nothing in common. Yet I am to show in this project the weird unexplainable love of platonic relationships. Especially at this point in my life, as I transition to the “big world” it is this kind of bond I will depend on to survive it.
