My photographs depict a visual odyssey of a devastating period when I experienced an unexpected and profound loss, the kind that destroyed my self-assurance and emotional equilibrium. For a period of 860 days, my husband left our family to live with his mistress. Suddenly, I was steeped in a new normal that was abnormal, navigating terrain akin to a rollercoaster ride that I had never stood in line for. There was no beginning, middle, or end; there just ‘was.’ I felt isolated and alone. Time became endless—and smothering.

Consciously reliving this experience to make this work is both difficult and cathartic—a profound journey of a harrowing past, a bittersweet act of peeling back layers of pain, and an avenue for solace and communion. Although it is personal, it is meant to speak more universally, to the what happens to us when we are face with a life event that we never say coming and find difficult to maneuver through. In creating this work, I heal my fractured self and extend a lifeline to those navigating parallel paths of debilitating and unexpected sorrow, whispering that they are not alone in their anguish.