Kagami means mirror in Japanese. An artist and friend I met in Japan while doing a residency in Kyoto, told me that Ga means Ego and if you take that out of Kagami, you are left with Kami, which means God. I loved this metaphor and wanted to make portraits of her with this in mind. We took mirrors out into the bamboo forest that her family has farmed for generations and created the first few images.
While traveling throughout Japan and during my residency, I made a series of photographs to explore myself in my new surroundings. I thought of it as a kind of sketchbook or journal documenting how I reacted to the various locations I found myself in. I staged cinematic stills, playing with the idea of life as a movie. I used whatever materials and locations were at hand to create scenes that feel both constructed and deeply personal.