During my exchange in Finland, I had the opportunity to create a series of photographs using any creative props and techniques that my heart desired. At the time, I wanted to explore the projection of ripples on the subject creating an ethereal, out-of-the-world feeling. Around the period of the same time, I could not stop thinking about the news about a female writer who had ended her life due to sexual trauma. She was a talented, young writer with a bright future, but her innocence and happiness were preyed upon when she was a minor. She wrote about her experiences in the form of a fictional novel as a way to unpack her emotions, but, eventually, the suffocating weight of societal suppression and depression won in the end. This series of photos pays tribute to her story, weaving together themes of femininity, sexuality, poetry, and loneliness.

Model: Julia Chou