Now You’re Here is a photographic series that explores queer awakening, love, anonymity in digital spaces, and my long-distance relationship with my partner, J. 

  J and I never met in person before this project, yet starting in 2019 we talked online every day, making jokes, discussing our days at work and school, expressing our desires, passions, and dreams. We managed to create something beautiful together during the COVID-19 pandemic. Through our time together and supporting one another, we found a special connection built from COVID which allowed us to reflect and meditate on our identities. We both come out as nonbinary after much discussion in isolation. We no longer felt bound by societal cis-heteronormative chains; we could experience the queer liberation we desired, together.  

I have been creating portraits of J and myself in a Virtual Reality game called VRChat since 2020. These portraits have given us a way to have intimate moments with one another and to document ourselves as a couple that some people would otherwise consider as not being real; since J lives in another country and our relationship is online. People could also invalidate our non-binary identity because it does not adhere to their sense of gender. People neglect to talk about how online communities, especially queer online communities, can save lives and give people a safe space to express themselves.   

Through the Stuart Abelson Research Fellowship I was finally able to finally meet J in person for the first time. Just as we had been photographing one another virtually for years, being in person with them allowed me to create intimate portraits that reflect the appreciation I had for the long road it took us to be together and the freedom to love unconditionally.