Soon after I met Jeff I started taking photos of him with a PolaroidGo camera. Photographing him felt serene and intuitive. I documented our deepening love on Polaroid cameras during the first year of our relationship, marked by its spontaneity, imperfection, and delicacy.

At the same time, I was also observing the process of my own healing. Feeling safe with a partner is vital and yet somehow difficult to come across, in my own experience and for others I know. Being queer, trans, and femme-bodied intensifies this. I found community with Jeff and the life we built, something that is critical for survival. These images celebrate our queerness and the love we hold for each other.

Sitting with them for more than a year now, I feel whelmed by their presence. Falling in love is an act of surrendering to the unknown. Relearning intimacy, seeing myself mirrored in another—more vulnerable and exposed than ever—is an achingly beautiful journey we navigate together.

I experimented with how to present the Polaroids during my MFA, sequencing them and producing book mock-ups, large format inkjet prints, textile prints, installations of framed original Polaroids and grids simply taped to the wall. I am now working on self-publishing a book. I want to share the intimate, individualized experience of holding these images with your hands too, in hopes that everyone can find a piece of this story to relate to.

This collection of 500+ photographs forms an emblem of a specific time in our lives. The title The Design of a House comes from a poem by Wendell Berry of the same name. Through the daily practice of returning to another, I return to myself. I, we, rebuild.