Haunted Interiors is a examination of how places hold and shape memories. For years, I photographed my great-great-aunt Ruth in her familial home in Lynchburg, Va, documenting its quiet corners and faded details. When Ruth had to move to a nursing home, it felt as though time stood still inside the house. The rooms, once alive with her presence, were now filled only with silence, memories, and the belongings she couldn’t take with her. The house felt haunted, and I wanted to create images that captured the sense of her lingering presence.

I used Ruth’s clothing—draped and arranged throughout the rooms—as a stand-in for her. The clothing became the ghosts I imagined there in my childhood, while also embodying the idea of “the residue of memory.” In the images, the belongings take on a life of their own, haunting us with their connection to her. To create the high contrast ethereal images, I processed transparency slide film in regular film chemistry and then printed them on high gloss Fujiflex printing polymer to further heighten the contrast and color.

Making these images and the accompanying video allowed me to confront and overcome childhood fears of the house, while simultaneously paying homage to the my aunt and the years she spent preserving its history and filling it with her memories and energy.