DE PROFUNDIS
(FROM THE DEPTHS)

De Profundis is a series of images created in March 2024 at the Fulton County Animal Services former facility, which closed down in December 2023 after about 50 years of use. The shelter was moved to a brand-new facility. I was granted exclusive access to the old empty building, to create a series of images. I wish to honor and celebrate the many lives that transitioned through the building. This was a 6h-long photo-shoot, using long exposures and painting with lights.

I’ve been thinking a lot about anger and grief these past months, inspired by a desperate rescue community, and the world’s events. Sometimes our anger is blind, unleashed. But it is important to harness our anger ethically, so that we do not destroy everything indiscriminately around us. In thinking about harnessing my own anger, I’ve been wondering how we can possibly find joy working in animal rescue, and considering what’s happening in the world. This photoshoot existed at this juncture between anger, grief, and the pursuit of joy.

The resulting images are energy contained, restrained. It’s a fire that consumes itself. A rightful anger that has nowhere to go but inward. I know a lot of us can relate to this.

De profundis clamavi ad te Domine.
Domine, exaudi vocem meam.
Fiant aures tuæ intendentes in vocem deprecationis meæ.

Out of the depths have I cried unto thee, O Lord.
Lord, hear my voice: let thine ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications.
(Psalm 130)