Worn Out Joy
2024 - ongoing
This body of work explores the pursuit of fulfillment and happiness in the late capitalist era, where these ideals are no longer self-determined but increasingly mediated, simulated, or sold back to us as commodified experiences. Through photography, I document the ways individuals attempt to reach for these ideals, stage them for others, or fail to attain them — moments that reveal the absurdities and emotional fatigue of labor that drains without nourishing. Alongside these images, I include photographs of children who are still permitted to wander, concentrate, and get mesmerized by their surroundings. The contrast speaks to what is gradually lost as we conform to roles that strip away wonder and autonomy. This project asks: how do we seek meaning when work offers none, and the promise of self-actualization is sold back to us in hollow forms? These photographs hold space for dissonance, while questioning whether happiness—or something like it—is still possible under conditions that limit genuine autonomy and possible transcendence.