During a period when my life was being dislocated by depression, addiction, sobriety, and isolation, a large part of my time at work was spent photographing vacant homes for a real estate firm in Portland, OR. I frequently found myself momentarily inhabiting spaces containing the discarded remnants of peoples' lives. These images were the result of an effort to create and alternately connect to the kind of disparate narratives we create for ourselves in times of major upheaval. Making these photographs as an audience to, but not a character in these desolations, I wanted to preserve the abandoned fragments in these buildings; bringing new symbolism to the forgotten objects that had made these rooms a home. I wanted to create works in which relating to one another's innate responses becomes a fundamental part of moving towards an emotionally congruent and vulnerable means of connection.
email: TristanBarnettPhotography@gmail.com