Having never created a photographic installation, I was unsure how to approach the project. Starting with the idea of illustrating “Wh-” questions (who, what, when, where, how, why), I chose “Why” as the primary question to explore as it complimented the themes of isolation, loneliness, and pensiveness I wanted to explore. While I was sure I wanted to include myself in this piece, I concluded that it would be too difficult and much less impactful if I were the only subject in this series of photos. Additionally, I wanted to challenge myself to take candid pictures of strangers in a style inspired by Swiss visual artist Beat Streuli. This led to the idea of simultaneously exploring Boston, a place I had only heard about from my mother, and photographing strangers doing something alone.

The idea to include origami cranes in a select number of photos came on a whim both as an additional visual element to incorporate various ideas associated with cranes and another step outside of my comfort zone by asking strangers to pose for a photograph with a prop. In a way, I was asking strangers (directly in the photos where they hold origami cranes and indirectly for all others) to act as a stand-in subject for myself and help me build this open-ended narrative.

As seen in #16 above, the photo of myself incorporates a lit candle as the primary light source for extreme contrast and paper cranes around me in a shape reminiscent of the iconography of a crane with its wings at the apex of its flying motion. I utilized a low-intensity continuous light as a fill light. I intended it to serve as the connection between myself and the other strangers whom I photographed alone. Unfortunately, it remained quite dark despite my efforts in post-production and the cranes were imperceptible in person as a result.