Call Time

By merging real portraits of the people in my town with staged scenes involving actors, my current work blurs the lines between reality and fiction and investigates the layers of my identity as an American expat living in Austria for many years.

Their routines are like clockwork. Every Sunday at 7:30 am, Gottfried makes his way to the local bakery to buy fresh bread. Hannah, my oldest neighbor, takes her daily walk at precisely 4 pm. Arno, the hunter, is out in the woods with his hound by 5 am at the latest. When I first moved to this small town, I got to know my neighbors through the rhythm of their everyday lives.

As an American who has lived in Austria for many years, my relationship with this community is complex. I am both an outsider and insider in as I move between the roles of neighbor and expat. My current ongoing work reflects this duality by merging authentic portraits of the real people in my town with staged scenes featuring actors. This approach allows me to investigate the layers of my identity while also highlighting how photography can blur the lines between fiction and truth. Additionally, some actors are cast as lookalikes to portray specific neighbors, further blurring these lines. The title, "Call Time," refers to the time an actor needs to arrive on set, inviting viewers to question what is real within the work.

But this project is also deeply personal; In photographing the people around me—both those who live in my town and the actors I bring into this space—I am also engaging with what it means to find community. My neighbors have even become collaborators with me on this project by welcoming me into their homes and permitting use of their backyards to stage scenes with actors. This work is a reflection of my own inner journey building relationships in such a small, close-knit environment — a place that is at once both familiar and foreign.