“AWAKENING” is a photo series expresses the ambiguous emotions and sensitive inner mental struggles of the young female identity.

As one of the young female going through a time of transition from adolescence into fully-fledged adulthood, I often questioned and confused about my self-identity. All these feelings of self-doubt, insecurity, being lost, and depression has dragged me down to the bottom of inner darkness. The darkness seems endless as I woke up in sweats and tears. I started to imagine what’s the color of feeling hope. With a pastel color tone in my work, I aim to highlight the feminine emotion, struggling through with a grasp of faith.

In photographing this phenomenon, I chose to leave an ambiguous state to the viewers: Is she coming up or drowning? It is this vague emotional moment that I search for as she self-expresses through body languages. Elaine is an albino, born to be different from others. After going through years of severe drug and alcohol abuse, she determined to start a clean new life. There was a raw energy and vitality present that connected us as we are all struggling and working on becoming better selves. Photographing these young female becomes a way of gazing back into myself as well as a method of healing the dark inner voices, with compassion and understanding.