You Can Never Be Strong You Can Only Be Free

You Can Never Be Strong You Can Only Be Free is the follow up to my Nuclear Family project. I made all of Nuclear Family in the summer of 2020, thinking it would be the last time I ever got to visit my grandpa Tom. In the months following that trip, my grandpa Tom passed.

I went back to my grandpa Tom's house in Port Penn in the early months of 2021. It was the first time I had ever been there in winter. It was the first time I had ever been there without my grandpa. Things were much colder, slower, frozen, quiet, and empty. It was a somber trip accompanied by somber photo making.

You Can Never Be Strong You Can Only Be Free is a short photo essay I made in Port Penn, Delaware while processing the death of my grandpa Tom. These photos are much colder and somber than anything else I've ever made. I've been sitting on this zine for nearly a year, because I just didn't know what to make of these photos after I left Delaware. I also ended up putting my camera down for most of 2021 following this trip. Right now feels like the right time to put it out.

-36 pages, 20 photos
-8x10 in.
-80lb uncoated pages
-110lb satin covers
-second edition of 30