Abstract

They’ve Been Waiting for Me a Long Time is a photo-based project saturated in process, layers, and iterations. Using collage as a connective approach, They’ve Been Waiting for Me a Long Time interrogates the boundaries of the domestic and wild, the aestheticized and the abject and the trappings of gender in tension with queer values.      As my visual art encapsulates a variety of approaches, my sources and inspirations manifest from a variety of media—installation, literature, philosophy, photography, and wallpaper. With an assortment of influences, I demonstrate a proclivity towards the liminal. A prime purpose of They’ve Been Waiting for Me a Long Time is to elevate the intermediary, that which transmogrifies and defies neat categorization.     The morbid, the sensual, and subsumption present themselves in visual cues throughout the work. Another ongoing motif is ornamentation versus underbelly—the ability to peel away surface value to expose what’s underneath. Additionally, the project delves into the human-borne tension between the wild and artificial. By using wallpaper and dried botanicals, I demonstrate that human’s bid for control only begets a chaotic response from the earth.      Lastly, They’ve Been Waiting for Me a Long Time, is a sensualist manifesto for material engagement. Whether I am in the darkroom, collaging, photographing, or constructing a still-life, I become enveloped in the process. I treat my media as collaborative sirens beckoning me to my final destination.

Publication Date

5-4-2026

Document Type

Thesis

Student Type

Graduate

Degree Name

Photography and Related Media (MFA)

Department, Program, or Center

Photographic Arts and Sciences, School of

College

College of Art and Design

Advisor

Joshua Thorson

Advisor/Committee Member

Ahndraya Parlato

Campus

RIT – Main Campus

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