“No Femmes. No Fats”—Seeing this phrase on gay dating apps as a teen marked me and my body as unwelcome. As a queer individual with a fat body and invisible disability, this rejection ignited an internal conflict between my body and my queerness.
My work emerged from this struggle, initially as self-portraiture—which felt almost self-destructive due to years of body shaming. However, I began to understand my queerness photographically through absurdity, humor, and play. From the beginning, my approach has been spontaneous—almost like free association—allowing intuition and chance to guide the work. Finding self-portraiture too personal, I shifted to include other queer individuals. Collaboration then became central to my process, and this spontaneity became even more dynamic, evolving into a shared process of exploration and improvisation.
My shoots unfold in spaces that are personal and familiar to my collaborators—their homes, workplaces, or outdoor environments where they feel comfortable. I rarely bring props or a fixed concept for the image I am after. Instead, I arrive with my camera and an openness to what emerges in the moment. We spend time together, moving through the space, allowing curiosity and play to take the lead. As we bounce ideas off one another, the sense of experimentation builds exponentially, creating images that are both personal and collectively shaped. This process mirrors the way queerness resists rigid definitions; it is improvisational, adaptive, and deeply relational.
Although I live in NYC, I aim to oppose metronormativity—the idea that free queer expression is confined to major cities. By focusing my work in small towns and rural areas, like my hometown of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, the heart of Amish Country, I highlight the vibrant and overlooked queer communities thriving in these areas.
My photographs exist in a realm of ambiguity, between reality and fantasy. They are not rigid definitions, but fluid reflections of the transitional space of queerness. Spontaneity, collaboration, intimacy, play, humor, and absurdity all permeate throughout my work, echoing the boundless dynamism of non-normative queer existence.