Perfectly
Imperfect
In a world where we are fed a constant stream of images which lead us to believe life is “perfect”, this series sets out to show that life isn’t perfect, yet it can still be beautiful.
The images aim to show what it like for people experiencing adverse mental health, whether it results from grief, depression, trauma - their sense of loneliness and isolation, of trying to show up when they are feeling broken, of people only seeing what they want to see because the reality is all too confronting.
This work was origianally created for my final portfolio for my Diploma of Photography Studies at Ultimo TAFE in 2021, and revised for a second exhibition in 2026.
“People think they know you. They think they know how you're handling a situation. But the truth is no one knows. No one knows what happens after you leave them, when you're lying in bed or sitting over your breakfast alone and all you want to do is cry or scream. They don't know what's going on inside your head--the mind-numbing cocktail of anger and sadness and guilt. This isn't their fault. They just don't know. And so they pretend and they say you're doing great when you're really not. And this makes everyone feel better. Everybody but you.” ― William H. Woodwell Jr.
“Every morning, I wake up and forget just for a second that it happened. But once my eyes open, it buries me like a landslide of sharp, sad rocks. Once my eyes open, I'm heavy, like there's to much gravity on my heart.” ― Sarah Ockler, Twenty Boy Summer
"We are imperfect mortal beings, aware of that mortality even as we push it away, failed by our very complication, so wired that when we mourn our losses we also mourn, for better or for worse, ourselves. as we were. as we are no longer. as we will one day not be at all.” - Joan Didion
“Sometimes I wake up and lie still enough to hear a petal drop from the vase of flowers. Sometimes I lie awake and wish there was someone to hear my falling.” ― Simon Van Booy, The Illusion of Separateness
"Looks can’t hide your true identity. It’s the eyes that give you away….the soul behind them. The intent. The Shadows.” - Vicki Pettersson
“We colour the world, not with the darkness of our pasts, But with the rainbow of our hopes.” - Jenim Dibie, The Calligraphy of God
“Grieving doesn't make you imperfect. It makes you human.” ― Sarah Dessen, The Truth About Forever
“After darkness comes the light” - Nevis
“I miss that feeling of connection. Knowing he was out there somewhere thinking about me at the same time I was thinking about him.” ― Ranata Suzuki
“She was no longer wrestling with the grief, but could sit down with it as a lasting companion and make it smaller in her thoughts.” - George Elliot