Tall as an Oak Tree

When I was young, I was often told to stand tall, tall as an oak tree. Like many at a young age, I was already surrounded, and influenced by, imagery of women shown as standing straight, and elegant.

But I stood with my shoulders hunched.

Tall as an Oak Tree is an exploration of self and of living with Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) from sexual violence combined with the social standards placed on women. Combining self-portraits and landscape photographs, this series is a visual journey of my own reconciliation with the side effects that stem from these realizations and understandings of myself and my world.

After I was diagnosed with PTSD in the months following the beginning of the Me Too movement in 2017, I felt the need to convey not only the widely-held beliefs seen of resilience and my own feelings of eventual emancipation, while giving weight to the many times that I navigated destructive and isolating thoughts and emotions. These, I felt then, were to be faced alone, hidden from the stigma that still exists.