This collection was made after responding to Japan's Tohoku tsunami in 2011, just prior to the Fukushima disaster. Subsequently I was evacuated and relocated to Southeast Asia where I continued my photoessay in Malaysia, Thailand, and Cambodia. I later traveled to French Polynesia to meet with a research team from the University of Akron before matriculating to UA to finish my undergraduate degree.

Gathered on commission for the Canton Museum of Art, this collection represents my first full length photo shoot in my own home country. The shoot began the moment I left my front door and lasted for several weeks during a great American road trip across the United States.

While studying biosecurity at New Zealand's Canterbury University, I was lucky enough to travel all over Oceania to gather this collection.

Gathered over the course of two years in Alaska's Katmai National Park and surrounding wilderness areas as well as Ontario Canada. 

Being an artist in Canton means something; it means you've dedicated yourself to your craft, to your fellow craftsmen, and to your community. This is far from a comprehensive collection of all of Stark County's artisans, rather a few of my favorite portraits. Through the years we've been through a lot together: marriages and children, loss and grief, rises and falls. We are family.

Known for the ornate brass coils around their necks, there are many theories as to why the Karen adopted this practice. I've heard everything from protection from tiger bites, to social status. In my experience it seemed simply an expression of style and beauty. These women embraced their coils and other neighboring tribes seemed to envy them.