SOMEBODIES

This is my BFA thesis project completed in 2022 at Parsons School of Design.

SOMEBODIES began with a survey asking family and friends about their relationships to their own bodies. I was excited to see how many responses spoke about a deep connection between the body and nature. Often, the two places people reported feeling most at peace in their bodies were in their homes or out in nature surrounded by open space, plants, and dirt. I wanted my project to be a multimedia expression of the connections between Body, Nature, and Home. I made masks to mimic plant-like textures, and then began visually blending the human body with the natural world. Masking the human face allowed the body to take on the presence of an entirely new species that was plant, animal, and human all at once. In a series of narrative photographs, a zine, and film clips, I document these beings in natural and domesticated spaces. Overgrown houseplants, dried flowers, swimming pools, and beloved gardens highlight the ways that my family invites nature into our homes. In contrast, this work also forces me to think about the ways I attempt to purge my body and home of dirt, bacteria, and other natural substances I sometimes perceive as toxic. However, I always smile at a dandelion blooming through a crack in the sidewalk or moss painting concrete green. SOMEBODIES re-frames that fear of dirt through a narrative documentation of nature’s beautiful interjections into our lives, bodies, and homes.