My work, Cartilage, focuses on relationships revealed through play and physical closeness. Over the last year, I have visited two communities with my camera: Dorchester, Massachusetts, located near my college campus, and Santa Ana, California, near my childhood home.

Growing up, I was particularly detached from my siblings, extended family, and my neighbors. This absence of community left a desire for closeness and ultimately drove me to document these communities.

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.

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