Tabitha Barnard

United States

Series title: Sophie’s 20th Summer

I was raised in Maine alongside three sisters and lived in a close-knit Christian culture where sexuality was never mentioned. When she was fourteen, my youngest sister, Sophie, called for a meeting between us. Disclosing her secret relationship with another girl and her queerness. While she was accepted and loved in my family, the push-pull between existing as a queer woman in this community during puberty was a struggle. This struggle was played out on her body as she picked and scratched at her skin. For the last three years, I have made images that document my sisters in their unique transitions to womanhood. Recently documenting Sophie specifically. By documenting the past violence Sophie inflicted on her skin she has regained ownership of it.