City-Nashville

I've been in Nashville for a year. It's been interesting for a recent transplant like me to move to a city that is reinventing itself. The first year or so in a new location is supposed to be spent getting familiar with new surroundings, finding a foothold. It's been tough for me to do this because I constantly hear how much Nashville is growing and, for better or for worse, how different it was from just a few years ago. I have nothing to refer this change to, so trying to get settled in has been an interesting process.

Inspired by this process of trying to assimilate in a city that is in flux, I walk the streets and photograph this transition; the tearing down of houses, the construction of buildings, lines of cranes and architecture meeting in angles in the sky. I then layer these images with old photographs of Nashville that I’ve found in the Tennessee State Library Archives. I’m attempting to show that even though all this growth and transition is happening, the past still lingers on in the city. Perhaps it’s from the desire of some who want Nashville to stay the same.

These images are from "City"-a body of work that investigates issues that are happening in whatever city I happen to be living in at a particular time. "City-Nashville" explores the phenomenon of a city experiencing rapid growth while trying to maintain it's familiar character. This is a work in progress, much like the city of Nashville itself.