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Fallen Angels
Shot by @kendalwalkerr styled by me
15
1/4 of “The balancing act of Becoming”

Since I was a little kid, my mom kept everything. She worked hard to preserve moments in time. I used to ridicule her for it, for holding on too tightly, for not letting the past simply happen and exist there. But as I grew older, I began to understand the importance of artifacts (and most importantly clothes 🪡) in their power to protect and preserve stories, stories that are vital to connecting us to who we are.

For my Thesis, I recreated some of the clothes my mom kept for me from childhood how i would wear them today. At first, I believed this project was about gaining access to that mini version of myself. I was searching for the freedom I thought I’d lost, the creativity I believed belonged to being younger, untouched by the realities and pressure of turning passion into work. But through the months of developing and the many emotional breakdowns that came with it, I came to realize that I was already in conversation with her, with myself. It just wasn’t the one sided, interview style conversation I thought I’d be having.

The versions of ourselves that exist across space and time are never truly lost. They are deeply layered and entangled within who we are, even when they feel out of reach. They continue to shape us, just as we shape them in return. The Balancing Act of Becoming lives in that exchange; in the tension between our past, present, and future selves, each pulling on the others while teaching us how to remain true.

Thank you to David @99printshop who screen printed these stripes one tedious 13 × 19-inch rectangle at a time. No one does it like you. Thank you to everyone who helped bring this deeply personal project to life, whether by listening to me talk as I searched for the child within myself or by constantly inspiring me to become more genuine to who I am. I love my friends so much.

And most of all, thank you, Mom. Thank you for keeping and protecting my memories, even before I understood why they mattered.

more to come.
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