SPECIAL PROJECTS
Screenwriting: Life Stories (2015)
University of Austin undergrad course that explored ethnographic fieldwork and the screenwriting adaptation process. Students conducted oral history interviews and adapted a life story into a film script.
Secrets Game
Have an upcoming house party and need to play a game where old friends will end up cackling on the living room floor? Secrets: J’accuse Edition will remind you that you never really know anyone, even your closest friends.
Message to the Future
2019-2029
I’m documenting 50 friends via audio messages they leave every December once a year every year for ten years.
In 2030, They will be able to listen to all the messages at once and reflect on the previous decade of their life.
2020
Collaboration with journalist Tina Antolini. Following the extraordinary and ordinary stories of people during the COVID19 pandemic, via voicemail diaries.
Segments aired on KQED’s California Report Magazine and Bay Curious podcast.
Break Up Postcards
2009
After a break up, I drew line drawings on card stock and wrote messages on the back. I then put a stamp on them and left them unaddressed on the sidewalk at various places in San Francisco.
6x6: Portland, Maine
2003
Oral History project that documented the ways in which the Portland, Maine community was connected.
Each row represents a “pathway” of connection. Each pathway was produced separately, though I found that people from other pathways knew each other and other connected pathways were possible.
I would meet with one person and interview them for an hour. Then, I would photograph them with a Polaroid camera against a red sheet I brought. Finally, I would ask them to connect me to someone in their social network that they knew, but who wasn’t necessarily a close friend. Someone different from them in age, race, sex, sexual identity, political beliefs, etc. People connected me to their former babysitters, their landlord, their neighbor, their mechanic.
I Took This Photo
2006
I sent home a package with disposable cameras for the whole family. The instructions were to photograph the people, places, and things that were meaningful to them. Across the country in San Francisco, I participated as well. Each photographer captioned their photos.
A Small View
2000
I assisted in teaching photography to Palestinian refugees in three camps in Bethlehem (Dheisheh, Azzah, Aida) and then took the students photographs to elders in the community. They provided context and commentary on what life was like for Palestinians in the West Bank at the turn of the century.
100 Days of Breakfast
In early July 2007, I went on a fast. After I broke the fast, the act of eating food felt different. More intentional. I was especially aware of how quickly I ate, how much I ate, when I was eating, and if I was even hungry.
I stumbled upon LA artist Jon Huck’s “Breakfast” series. It inspired me to visually record my own eating habits. For 100 days, I photographed myself and what I ate for breakfast every morning.
There were rules. I could not shower before my self-portrait. This was not a vanity project. I would not smile in the photo. I had to eat the breakfast in the place where it was photographed. I could not eat the same thing two days in a row- or even in the same week.
In 100 days, I ate over 20 pieces of bread, over 4 dozen eggs, 15 bowls of cereal, 8 peaches, 6 waffles, 4 leftovers from dinner, 2 pop tars and 1 donut.
100 Days of Dinner
This is a continuation of “100 Days of Breakfast.” I decided to start this ritual again because I wanted to be more intentional about making dinner for myself, learning new recipes and taking better care of myself.
The rules were different than breakfast. Leftovers were a financial necessity. Grooming was inevitable. I usually ate dinner in the same place. While breakfast is usually a private ritual, dinner is different.
A month into the project, I began to regularly invite friends over to help me cook. I began to appreciate sharing meals with friends and the special ceremony of it all. Intentional eating brought intentional intimacy.
I made the project into a book and included recipes and supplementary photos of specific dishes.
Interview with Friends
2001 - 2002
My attempt to be Studs Terkel.