A series about the role community plays in the formative years of adolescence by photographer Luke Rosing. Rosing’s work focuses on the relationships between people and the environments they inhabit. His practice is grounded in the communities he photographs and considers how intimacy and belonging are formed through everyday moments. Over the last year, he has been documenting Dorchester, Massachusetts, located near his college campus, and Santa Ana, California, close to his childhood home. Growing up, Rosing felt detached from his siblings, extended family, and neighbours. This absence of community has resulted in a desire to better understand it.

“The title Cartilage came from a story my Dad once told me about a surgery he performed, describing cartilage as resilient, malleable, and essential for growth. I see community in adolescence analogous to this: a connective tissue that allows emotional expansion. Photographing these moments is my attempt to grasp this idea of movement and growth while we’re young.”