I grew up in a rural Connecticut town. I witnessed up close the emotionally devastating impact poverty has on people.  In 2014 I did a photographic narrative on a single mother and her 11-year-old daughter. They both struggled every single day: I witnessed two people cling to their hopes and dreams while still maintaining their dignity. It was an experience that reawakened my own childhood memories, like  my grandfather coming home from the dump with presents from the “trash & treasures.” Several of my other photographic series allowed me to see through my own eyes as a child and at the same time I was unable to leave behind the memories I have as an adult. For ten years I have been photographing a certain type of suffering. It is always a combination of my own suffering and the suffering of my subject. NAB opens a door for me to step back from myself and focus on others.