Introduction
These photographs are from a body of work photographing a young girl experiencing life in her untraditional family setting. I spent several years photographing a young girl named Anna and her family. At one year of age, Anna was removed from her parent’s care and raised by her grandparents. The family has endured financial hardships and complex relationships while trying to maintain the care and support of one another. Over the course of this body of work, I documented Anna and her family's various changing circumstances and the various people who would come in and out of her life. In my photography, I have mainly focused on personal connections and an exploration of the emotional realities that lay beneath everyday life. Within the intimate domestic setting of Anna’s family, the photographs depict moments of emotion, trust, and vulnerability as experienced by Anna and other family members. My images provide a look at the private inner world of one family, revealing the self- awareness of the individuals and the complexities of their relationship with one another. At the same time, I want to instill in the viewer the same feeling and experience of connectedness and intimacy.