With this project I use my lens as a visual storyteller to express ideas around the interconnection of land, body and sense of belonging. I pull from traditional stories and ways of knowing to weave together the underlying meanings of my work; the Land remembers, the Water remembers and the Body remembers. This project reflects the consuming feeling of intergenerational trauma and systematic oppression; but also serves as a visual metaphor for the resilience found by reconnecting and reclaiming self through tradition and community.
The title of this work reflects on the historical use of starvation as a tool of control. The Colonial State has employed forms of starvation as a means to seek control over the autonomy of People of Colour and of Indigenous Nations across the world; Spiritually, mentally and physically. "They Only Love Us When We Are Starving" is a direct comment on my journey to reclaim myself but also mirrors a larger meaning rooted in the disruption and dismantling of Colonial White dominant society.
I use my camera and practice of making both rooted in a diy punk ethos to reflect on the collective strength of my community and my ancestors and more specifically how they have aided me in finding myself, healing and reclaiming who I am, who we are. This project is a story about living through something, and coming out on the other end.