if you need me

The series If You Need Me explores an unorthodox relationship with a former neighbor that developed exclusively via gay phone apps and social media; a relationship he initiated by sending me photos of the outside of my apartment at night. In reaction to this invasive act, I researched his social media profiles to expand on the question of his identity. During this process, I developed an idiosyncratic connection with his online persona. In an attempt to explore this new connection, I pondered whether sharing physical proximity and significant time with these posts could foster an experience of intimacy. To approach this question, I chose to re-present combined images and text from a finite period in his Facebook feed—beginning with the first post in which my original feelings of trepidation changed to genuine empathy—in detailed pen and ink drawings in an effort to allow both myself, and the viewer, to enter into an intimate relationship with the subject.

This work was an ongoing piece exploring the peculiar space between fact and fiction, through the lens of one person’s digital persona, in which I used the curated fragments of a stranger’s life to explore the relationships we build with these fragments and how this translates to our actual reality. The project ended when the subject lost interest in me. 

Ink and Wite-Out Correction Tape on cold-press watercolor paper. 
9"x12".