This series examines the intersection of gender, religion, and familial inheritance in the rural South through a blend of photography and mixed media. A Stitch in the Pew, a Silence Inherited investigates how traditional Southern roles — particularly the presence and absence of male authority — shape personal and collective identity.

Drawing on personal narrative, I consider the shifting expectations of protection, provision, and authority historically ascribed to men in Southern households and churches. My father’s temporary absences, left a vacancy that altered my family’s structure. In his place, responsibility and presence were redistributed—first to me, and later to my younger brother.

Through photographic documentation and conceptual sculpture, I interrogate how these roles are not only lived but reinforced by cultural and religious frameworks. One key piece in the series utilizes torn Bible pages, stitched together by hand. Verses on women, sin, and gender were underlined to reflect how scripture has informed both personal upbringing and societal expectations. The act of stitching represents both an attempt to reconstruct fragmented beliefs and a quiet resistance to the rigid roles I inherited. Displayed on a clothesline, the piece echoes the domestic act of “airing out dirty laundry,” merging confession, critique, and catharsis.

This body of work is an exploration of absence as presence—how inherited roles, religious texts, and family expectations linger long after figures depart. By combining imagery of home, church, and personal archives, I aim to unravel and restitch narratives that have shaped not only my family but the broader Southern cultural landscape.