Lost in Thought

Siobhan L.

Digital Photography

• Artist Statement

  Every summer, me and my cousins spend a week together at a music festival on Ten Mile Creek. We don't go for the music or the hippies, we go for each other. The cousin depicted here is one I've been close with my whole life. I've always appreciated his tendency to stare off silently, lost in his thoughts. It meant a lot to me that I could capture his intense mind in a portrait. I've seen my family grow older and change under the weight of responsibility and hardship. I've watched my younger cousins lose the parts of themselves that make them so special in order to shoulder burdens. To me, this photograph will preserve his expression of thought and curiosity after it's been replaced by that of stress and exhaustion.

• Creative Statement

  To me, creativity means freedom. Freedom of expression in ways beyond surface appearances, to express emotions that aren't simple to convey. The freedom to make something that didn't exist before. The freedom to explore yourself and your abilities. Creativity frees us from our internal boundaries.