ellis island
2024 - 2026
While photographing the abandoned Ellis Island Hospital complex, I became interested in the stories the rooms and corridors once held. After Ellis Island opened in 1892, immigrants who showed signs of illness during the brief medical inspection were marked with chalk and sent to the hospital for further examination. For many immigrants, the hospital became a liminal space between arrival and acceptance.
As I spent more time researching the history of the hospital, I began incorporating family photographs and historical fragments into the work. The collages and diptychs bring together images of the hospital with pieces of personal and historical material, allowing different histories to exist side by side.
Through this process I began to see my own family’s story as part of the larger narrative of immigration—one shaped by uncertainty, resilience, and hope.
