“It’s 5am and I’m sitting on the porch, wind pushing grains of sand against my body. I hear birds singing (as they always do this early in the morning). Perhaps they’re just talking, or maybe they’re simply making noise. Maybe they so desperately need to be heard. I wonder if that’s why the owl near my bedroom window hoo’s all night. Does she need to be validated as badly as I do that she exists? The air feels so good against my skin. I don’t know why I don’t sit on this porch more often.”

When was this desire to be understood, born? Is this desperation for proof that we exist predisposed in our biological framework? There is an inherent loneliness to consciousness, one that I became aware of quite early on, a loneliness that sits with me. The overarching theme of my work is self-reflection and documentation. Through photographic prints I endeavor to acknowledge the mutual exchange of validation between artist and viewer, to understand humanity's obsession with art that expresses personal identity and private experience, and to address the inherent absurdity in our desire to visually capture the intangible. On the surface the photos serve as intimate vessels of my lived experience, however each photograph carries moments of deflection that allow for an omission of true vulnerability.

@madelinepace_ /// madelinepeveto@gmail.com