After faith

Summer 2024 was a season of transformation. I rebuilt my belief system piece by piece—through church worship, shamanic rituals, and Buddhist meditation.

Coming from a secular background, I’ve always been drawn to questions that science cannot answer, searching for faith in the unseen to calm my anxiety and ground my delusions. This project captures that search, a quiet exploration of belief and belonging. <Here> are some logs if you are insterested in the journey.

The photo series intentionally omits the “how” and “with whom,” presenting fragments from various religious traditions as symbolic reflections of my evolving spiritual practices and the fact that I do not belong to any single religious group. I pair the welcome sign from a black church with a quiet sanctuary at a multicultural presbyterian church, and match Alma on a board with milk stains from a ceremony to spill milk towards the sky for good luck.

Through this process, the work conveys a sense of liberation and healing, yet also reflects an underlying loneliness—much like Siddhartha’s solitary journey toward awakening.

This series pays tribute to Photographs Not Taken, reflecting on memory and the gaps in what we choose—or are unable—to photograph. Pivotal moments often remain unseen: a surreal baptism behind mirrored cabinets in a Mormon church, uplifting jazz hymns and dancing in a Black Christian temple, or the intensity of shamanic ceremonies. It is an attempt to balance nonattachment with genuine care for the projects. These fragile and fleeting memories sometimes fade as we focus on living in the here and now, and at times, when photography is not permitted. I have learned to embrace these gaps, letting them go while still completing the project and remaining authentic to the process.