Born and raised in a small town near Lake Erie, Ohio, I was surrounded by the classic imagery associated with the stereotypical American Dream–playing catch at the sandlot, sipping milkshakes at the local diner, riding bikes under the hot sun, and singing along to the sweet sound of rock and roll. Pink Houses is a collection of the objects and places that shaped those memories–fragments of a past that now exist more in nostalgia than reality.

John Mellencamp’s “Pink Houses" is one of the rock and roll songs I imagine playing on the radio while riding in my dad’s pickup truck. What initially sounds like a patriotic anthem unfolds into a more complicated and often difficult truth about the American experience. This contrast between idealism and reality serves as a reminder that the American story is not singular but made up of countless individual experiences, each shaped by its own history and perspective. This body of work offers a small window into mine.