Author(s): Kinley Walker
Mentor(s): Rheana Gardner, Sam Davis
Institution SUU
Loneliness is a project that started as a way to learn more about loneliness and what that meant to the world vs what it meant to an individual. It evolved into a project exploring what different types of loneliness can look like. That it can look like being alone, being with others, and being content. Loneliness is something everyone goes through, but the goal was to show that loneliness can be a way to find oneself, and learn more about oneself and the world, but also a way to find a community, people that feel the same as you do. Growth is a vital part of loneliness that I discovered through personal experience as well as talking to others. Growth occurs when a person is lonely because we learn how to be independent, we start to live and see the world more clearly because of our isolation. Loneliness was created using darkroom techniques. Shot on 35mm film and developed in the darkroom, these photos were developed using a leaf, dipping it in developer and placing that leaf onto the exposed paper. Leaves are a symbol of growth, and life. So naturally they were a perfect symbol to use in conjunction to loneliness. The leaf imprints are not perfect but neither are we, we need to remember that being lonely is alright. The leaf imprints show the veins of the leaf, spreading and bringing individuals together. Loneliness does not need to be permanent, it does not need to be negative. It can be a way of finding growth, finding others and finding oneself.