I was on a safari to start, behind the protection of my lens, when I witnessed tradition and trouble sail into town. As part of this ongoing immersive documentary project, this labour of love, I have spent the last nine years travelling across America chasing Sailors, from the back rooms of dive bars to weeks out at sea. As a Canadian I was fascinated with this exotic brand of hyperbolic American patriotism but I quickly transformed from outsider and observer to insider and instigator. I reveal the personality of these anonymous uniformed Sailors that are often seen as just a number in a fleet sent off to war by far removed decision makers. I show these dynamic characters full of youthful bravado as they work hard and play even harder. I am on the hunt for salty tales and shenanigans as nostalgia, cliché, and humour guide the viewer through my adventures. I put on my bright red lipstick, slip on my bright red high heels, I hit the street, I see these boys in white and with giddy excitement I approach… “Hey Sailor! New in town?”

Everyone loves a parade and Americans more than anybody. As a Canadian I always find American parades fascinating, flags, guns, uniforms, military, children uniformed as miniature soldiers, the old, the young, marching bands, ethnic stereotypes and more flags. Nostalgia, patriotism and joy spend hours preparing for a half-mile sweaty march from point A to B for no other reason than a parade. 

In the US Navy the sailors leave their families and homes for up to 10 months at a time. When a ship or a squadron returns home, the families and loved ones run to their sailors with joy and abandonment. When I photograph a homecoming I witness the sacrifice and the heartache that the men and women who serve and their families go through every day. They stand in the rain and the cold, waiting, waving, flying flags and handmade banners, they see their sailors, they smile, they scream, they cry, their sailor is home. 

An international collaboration with SašaDesign, the design studio of Sarajevo-born Canadian artist and designer Aleksandar (Saša) Škorić.

The photographer Diane Arbus spoke about entering into people’s (actually strangers’) homes, “If I were just curious, it would be very hard to say to someone, ‘I want to come to your house and have you talk to me and tell me the story of your life.’ I mean people are going to say, ‘You’re crazy.’ Plus they’re going to keep mighty guarded. But the camera is a kind of license. A lot of people, they want to be paid that much attention and that’s a reasonable kind of attention to be paid”.1

Pet Project, is a photographic portrait project of strangers, taken in the tradition of Arbus, I enter into peoples lives and homes. I do not know these people until the moment I begin to set up for the shot but during our time together I learn about them. I gather most of my subjects from Craigslist. Some of the subjects are found as I am walking down the street or sitting in a coffee shop. If they seem interesting, if the relationship between the owner and the pet excites me, I ask them to pose for me.

Surprisingly, many of these strangers from the street contact me, invite me into their homes and the relationship begins. Who are these people who invite a stranger who solicited them over the Internet or on the street into their homes? But then again who am I to have the desire to do it? I am a voyeur who pleasures in the “sneak attack”, wearing the guise of photographer and armed with a camera. They are exhibitionists who want someone to see their private worlds and their most treasured possession their pets.

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1 Arbus, Diane. Diane Arbus An Aperture Monograph. New York, NY: The Aperture Foundation, 1972. Page 1.