Above is a selection of my thesis project, I Love/Hate It Here
I went to high school in Chattanooga, Tennessee and I’m one of a handful of graduates from there who went to college. I never wanted to leave, I wanted to stay at home and do drugs with my buddies like we always had. I got my first camera when I turned 16 and started taking pictures of my friends, which is how this project was conceived. Due to the encouragement of my photography professor and the fear when bodies started to pile up, I ended up leaving for college. My home has a hold on me, it intertwined with who I am and chained me to it if not physically at least mentally. It’s constricted and constructed my identity and I’m only beginning to free myself from it. My friends that are alive are not so lucky, I’m one of the few to have escaped its grasp which is something I’ll forever be guilty of. Many of them don’t seem too concerned about it and I guess that’s good for them, but I know it wasn’t good for me. I Love It Here, I Hate It Here is (roughly) our story, comprised of pictures from my personal history, reflective photographs from the modern day looking back, first person writings collected from myself and friends, and things that remain in-between. It is not a unique story, and I think I deserve a lot worse than I got when so many more deserved better. It honors everyone who helped me get here and respects those that remain.