Not everything that is faced can be changed,
but nothing can be changed until it is faced.

Love takes off the masks that we fear we
cannot live without, and know we cannot live within.

- James Baldwin

Remember This House

Remember This House is a visual allegory interpreted through the lens of vintage Polaroid cameras and expired instant film. Imagined, staged, and photographed in the Summer of 2012 at the former West 24th Street studio of Richard Avedon, with additional images from Hotel Chelsea (West 23rd Street), and the surrounding neighborhoods.

The setting is Hotel Chelsea with a cast of three characters whose temperament are that of New York City - tough, kind, and smart. A mass of antlers speaks to the shedding of past seasons and power; while masks act as shields, protection, and transformation. The raw, rough-hewn beauty of the objects are presented as a supporting cast, echoing the spirit of the hotel and city.

The project speaks to the spectrum of the human experience, while weaving themes of subtle regret, melancholy, reflection, and emotional realization.  Remember This House was named after the unfinished personal manuscript by American writer and civil rights activist James Baldwin, which was sold to McGraw-Hill. Following Baldwin's 1987 death, the publisher sued his estate to recover the advance they had paid him - the lawsuit was subsequently suspended. The memoir remains unreleased.

Remember This House includes approximately one hundred photographs executed in 2012, printed in 2025. The unique 4.2 x 3.5 inch (11 x 9 cm) Polaroids were scanned with the frame (Image 2), cropped to the image size 3.1 x 3.1 inches (8 x 8 cm), and printed up to 10 times their original size (Image 1).

1. Remember This House (Untitled 31)