These photographs were created in a reflective state on the topics of mental health and generational trauma.

I consider the effects they have had on how I approach relationships, how I think about myself, how I view the future and so much more. This project is a space to acknowledge the childhood I needed, but did not have.

I consider my parents and their upbringing and how they did the best they could with the grueling childhood that they were given. This project is a reminder to me that they were once five years old, fifteen, and thirty, adapting, and making mistakes, much like I do now. The way they navigate life is how they were taught, and it was not always the best way or the healthy way.

Through these works of art, I recognize the complexities of being children of immigrant parents who traveled into the unknown to make a better life than the one they were guaranteed back home. I appreciate the people who have a similar story to mine. The people who must reparent themselves and break unhealthy coping mechanisms well into their adulthood, and who work hard to prevent the generational trauma from continuing.