One is Free is influenced by images my parents took and films they made of me. I looked at the way they looked at me as I grew up. While we have scrapbooks and footage of winter plays, softball games, and birthdays, we also have just as much documentation of the space in between: lazy Sunday mornings when my brother and I would crawl into my parents' bed; watching TV in the family room while another family member sits at a computer; hikes as a family or with friends; or going out to a teahouse for a late night snack. No matter what time of day or what period of life, my parents wanted me to know how special I am to them, and these seemingly simple moments were the most important. While many photographs and films taken of me in my teen years capture resentment towards the photographer, the camera still reveals a respectful, loving gaze that can only come from a parent. That gaze, however, became more and more distant as I grew older. I no longer wanted my parents to document me, and instead I insisted they photograph from farther away. As a result, images and footage of me later in life depicts me in my environment, and they focus less on my person.

I applied this gaze to my self-portraiture. In this series of photographs, I combine my parents' distant observations with my own critical perspective of myself. This edit of photographs illustrates how I believe my parents see me, how I think others see me, and how I see myself. I involved my parents in the process of making some of the work. Other images I directed friends to photograph me, and some I made on my own. I try to discover my identity illustrated through images, while also assuming the role of my parents as documenters. It is about transition into roles of my own parent, my own lover, my own admirer, my own follower.