coquettish decay
2025
Unique Antique 19th century daguerreotype cases featuring pigment prints from the series on Hahnemuhle Agave paper sized approx. 2 x 2.5.
As a visual artist, my work centers on storytelling as a means of exploring memory, identity, and place. Coquettish Decay is a photographic series that merges image and text, inviting viewers to engage with the material both visually and conceptually. The photographs, made during a retreat off the coast of Georgia, are paired with handwritten excerpts from William Faulkner’s A Rose for Emily, invoking the literary tradition of Southern Gothic to examine themes of decay, legacy, and constraint.
Faulkner’s tale, set in a post–Civil War Southern town, follows a "genteel woman" from a once-prominent family, isolated by a controlling father and societal expectations. It's a story steeped in small-town gossip, social codes, and fading legacies—where ideas like noblesse oblige still resonate.
Each print in this series features handwritten text, making every work unique, though the series is produced as a limited edition of three.
In addition, as part of this series, repurposed 19th-century daguerreotype cases, replacing their original portraits with my own photographs. These antique cases, period-appropriate to the story’s setting, evoke objects the protagonist might have owned, reinforcing key elements of the story.
