“Loneliness is solitude with a problem.” — Maggie Nelson, Bluets

Over time I’ve struggled with balancing my emotions of loneliness and solitude. There are days when I feel lonely, longing for my friends, and yearning for the respite of human contact. There are other days when I feel solitude, finding peace and serenity within myself, as I float into a state of ethereal calm with my thoughts. When I juggle these emotions, I venture out into the world to find a sense of grounding. I take photos to document my experience, hoping to form a bond between loneliness and solitude. Loneliness leads to solitude, and solitude can lead back into loneliness. I ebb and flow between the two states, existing somewhere in the middle. I’ve realized that one feeling cannot sustain itself without the other, and that a relationship must be formed as the lines blur between causation and relation. To that extent, these photos sought to represent my inner dialogue with my emotions. They represent spaces that were once filled with people and are now void. They represent spaces there were once void, and are now beautiful upon reflection. They are my lyrics to the space that only I occupy.