Dark Matter
After my mother went missing, I was terrified to walk in the woods for years, fearing I might discover her body despite the extensive volunteer searches and police investigations. Dark Matter is what emerged when the answers became elusive. This work explores the 2014 disappearance of my mother, Tammy Kingery, and the psychological aftermath that I have only recently begun to process . I step into the void, where my dreams blur reality and time, and I search for the truth as my fragmented memories begin to resurface.
In these dreams, I often find her. For a fleeting moment, relief washes over me, replacing the void that has grown into the darkest parts of my subconscious. I stand face-to-face with her soul, but the truth dissolves right before I can even find the words to say. I open my eyes, and I’m thrust into another cycle of grief as I lay back in bed, knowing that one day I would have to wake up and find the rest of her.
These photographs don't solve the mystery but instead, invites viewers to see the complexity of ambiguous loss. Dark matter is the hidden framework that holds our collective experiences, intergenerational narratives, and fragmented memory. While the mystery of my mother’s disappearance may never be solved, its impact continues to affect my life. Weaving together contemporary photography, archival images, and handwritten notes, I ask—
How do we make peace with the unknown? What does it mean to be shaped by absence? How does creation transcend us?
