This project explores identity, solitude, and belonging through domestic and public spaces. After arriving in New York alone as an international student at eighteen, I began photographing the rooms, routines, and people that shaped my daily life. My apartment became a private space away from outside scrutiny, while the city became a place where belonging had to be continuously negotiated.      

        The work responds to David Hockney’s observation that “the camera can’t see space. It sees surfaces. People see space, which is much more interesting.” I photograph each environment through many frames, moving through the space over time, then digitally reconstruct these fragments into a larger image.      

        The resulting photographs are constructed records of place. They reflect how a space is occupied, remembered, and understood. The project considers the temporary nature of this period of life, shaped by school, visas, rent, work, and circumstance.