Casey Goodwin ’21

Casey Goodwin

At least predominantly, I have always been a portrait photographer. I’m somewhat obsessed with people, and my work typically focuses on conscious human thought. This work however, focuses on the subconscious, the human spirit, the often unidentifiable feelings that weave the fabric of the soul. Portraits in this series do not contain the conventional communicative qualities of portraiture (i.e. posture, comprehensible orientation, the direct gaze), and via this “lack,” they aim to demonstrate what is lost when part of the human spirit dies. And here, I don’t mean death in the literal sense; that would be another exploration entirely. At least in my own mind, the subjects of the images do not necessarily look dead, but rather, gone. In leaving us they amplify the power of spirit and soul, the essence of humanity beyond flesh and bone. They embody discomfort, strength, distress, stillness, vulnerability…the odd concoction of all it is to be adrift, to be lost, but still living.