New York, in my experience, is much like floating on a raft in the middle of the ocean. Realistically, it’s nothing like that— it’s overflowing with human decision often at others’ expense, and a seemingly inescapable emotional and physical overstimulation— and yet they somehow create similar feelings of isolation and desperation. It is within those boroughs that I learned some of my hardest lessons about love, perseverance, disappointment, and independence.

The imperfect nature of instant film echoes the feeling of inadequacy and uncertainty about the intersection of our identities and surroundings we experience. The use of manual tools within the camera like long and multiple exposures, as well as warping via scanner, allowed me to manipulate a medium that is often irratic, mimicking the effort to grasp and solidify our existence in an often unforgiving world.