Worthy Sons

This thesis paper serves as a point of reference to synthesize the main themes and concerns within my artistic practice and, more specifically, my thesis project, Worthy Sons. This body of work presents a specific group of teenagers I met through a youth organization I volunteer for in South Bend, Indiana. All of these young men share a passion for skateboarding. I have learned, though, that this is not their only commonality; each of these boys lives in a home without their father present. I wondered how this group of teenagers navigates through the critical phase between boyhood and manhood without any sort of guidance. However, the more time I spend with them, the more I realize that these boys come together to support one another and their friendships help fill the void where their fathers are absent.

Over the past two years, I have used the camera not only as a documentary tool but also as a means of affirming value. By turning the camera on them, the photographs give these teenagers an agency they’ve seldom had at home or in their neighborhood. The exhibition itself serves as a location to invite the viewer to be present. Through intentional shifts in how I photograph, from public to private views and the apparent passage of time, the work encourages a familiarity that prompts empathy and compassion within the viewer.

An audio piece of ambient noises recorded in these boys’ homes, their neighborhood streets, the interiors of a skatepark and from snippets of their conversations is included alongside the photographs. These sounds are meant to lessen the distance between the subject and the viewer, heighten the affective qualities of the photographs and reference the transitional period from boyhood to manhood. With a large group of photographs on the gallery walls, along with the audio sounding through the space, the viewer is placed in the locations where they are forming their identity. This thesis project presents moments of stasis amidst the action occurring in the surrounding space, whether in the home, the neighborhood or the skatepark, and allows the viewer to contemplate one’s own perspective on this complex and complicated chapter of teenage life.