Artist Statement for Benny Was a Good Boy

I have spent my life seeking connections but at the same time, also afraid to connect. I moved a lot as a child and as much as I craved a connection with a person or a place, I was also afraid to be hurt when the connection was broken.

Benny Was a Good Boy started out as documentary of my old dog’s final year. But it ended up being a story of how I dealt with the feelings and hurt that goes along with the breaking of a connection that was so important in my life. The project became a way for me to deal with death.

Throughout your life, connections break whether through the death of a loved one, a loss of a relationship, or just a simple fracture of a friendship. Through this series, I realized that the connections you form never really leave you. As Jack Lemmon said, “Death ends a life, not a relationship.” Even the photographs I created after Benny’s death carry a small piece of him in each one.