Emily Allen

I think that most raw and powerful images tend to be the ones portraying sadness. However, I also love the heartwarming images capturing special moments between family and friends. For my project I decided to combine the two ideas and photograph the juxtaposition of connection and loneliness.

I have always incorporated my family into my work whether it be through capturing their authentic relationships or having them model different emotions. For my project I wanted to focus on capturing the connection between families while also capturing the loneliness being separated or isolated from family can cause.

Although loneliness is often considered a result of being physically alone I wanted to convey that loneliness can happen while being with other people. I decided to convey this by editing my brother to be a ghost at the family dinner table. Rather than to portray an actual ghost this is to represent how even when surrounded by people someone can still feel invisible or unheard.

I also focused on capturing the loneliness evoked by social media and connections between strangers.

Social media provides an insight into others lives that allows you to connect with them on deeper levels. However, social media also makes it easy to compare yourself to others and feel as though you are missing out, creating feelings of loneliness. I communicated this idea using a projector in order to display both the phone's screen and the loneliness it can cause.

To photograph connections between strangers I went into Boston. Cities are a place where strangers often connect for a moment in time. Despite being the day after a snowstorm, the Common was filled with people. I captured images of stranger's shared experience sledding.

In the future, I hope to continue capturing human connection and loneliness and expand this project on my own.