9 Ways It Could All End for Us

"9 Ways It Could All End for Us" is a self-portrait project that imagines nine different possible “endings” for international students after they graduate in the U.S. Each photograph is one fictional outcome, based on real things that I’ve seen or thought about.

Each of these identities is played by me, but they are not exactly “me.” They are built from a

mix of real emotions, social pressures, and imagined outcomes. I use costumes, expressions, and settings to change how I look and feel in each photo. The tone of the work is quiet and a little melancholic. Some endings are sad, some are funny, and some are confusing. That’s because I think the real experience of being an international student is often like that, uncertain, mixed, and hard to define.