My adolescence inspired this project, a point in time when I’d spend hours on social media sites like Livejournal and Tumblr while navigating the social sphere of high school. While I often look back on those times as much easier than the transition into adulthood, it is through rose-tinted glasses. The internal challenge of being a quiet internet child who sought solace in a safe space to express self-expression without their peers casting judgment, but also that aching feeling of missing out on your youth by turning to online spaces.

Prom season is a cultural bookend to adolescence, serving as an end to the mental strife of puberty, the social hierarchy of popularity, and the exploration of one’s identity.