I am a drifter, floating through relationships, unrooted.
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While being "adaptable" is traditionally a good survival technique, I find that socially I "adapt" too well. I unconsciously play into different roles depending on the social situation, all while masking myself to fit into the mold of what's acceptable. This has allowed me to superficially get along well with anybody, but it also has defined my life as I drift and float through social cliques and relationships. Reinforced by physically moving to a new town many times throughout my life, I have lived in a constant state of uprootedness for as long as I can remember. The many different childhood bedrooms where I once lived now only exists in memories. And young adulthood exaggerates these feelings as life begins to move quicker, and people come and go faster than ever. I have neither a place nor a person with whom I have ever really planted roots.
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Even when others feel comfortable being vulnerable to me, I have trouble reciprocating. I can't rationalize exerting myself emotionally with someone when I know they will likely no longer be in my life even a year later. I am personable with many, but I'm not personal with anyone. I am a tree unrooted, blowing uncertainly through life, without foundation. 

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This mixed media interactive project seeks to encapsulate my feelings of being unrooted. The images, which are airy and ethereal, depict the emotional whirlwind I have experienced jumping from friend to friend, which no sense of identity planted with either a place or person. The imagery, printed on light chiffon through the process of photogravure, hangs on a giant root system that acts as a mobile. With literally no foundation to rest upon, the entire structure floats in the air; held up as if by a single thread. Originally meant to be displayed in a large open gallery space, the mobile and imagery shifts as viewers walk around it, thus creating a different perspective, view, and experience for each new person that walks past. Constantly moving, and constantly changing, constantly uprooted.

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