I photographed Superimposed during the 2015/2016 election cycle when the tenor of the American public discourse shifted dramatically.  

Vitriol, verbal slurs and outright hatred became all too commonplace. While these sentiments and behaviors had always existed quietly, suddenly people felt emboldened toward hostility because these behaviors were modeled and encouraged by those in the public eye. In Superimposed, I explore cultural identity binaries. Each superimposed portrait is a combination of two individuals who self-identify in stereotypically opposite ways such as religious and atheist or pro-choice and pro-life.  

This project is an outgrowth of my interest in the sociology, systemic structures, and how art can affect a viewer’s subconscious. As viewers naturally project their own experiences onto portraits and form impressions of the subjects, these portraits encourage the viewer to consider the relevance, and perhaps unimportance, of identity labels and their ubiquity in our culture. My hope is that the portraits alone will trump the information about the paired identities and enable the viewer to see past their own preconceived notions.  

This work feels particularly salient given the upcoming election and the divisiveness we’ve come to treat as the norm. Hopefully this work can build connection and empathy among viewers and encourage ripple effects outwards in their daily lives. This project remains in progress as I am shooting more as this election year progresses.