"I’ve been thinking a lot about what, exactly, does summer mean to somebody who is immunocompromised? To a lot of us who are immunocompromised, we feel like we’re being left behind, so we kind of have to manage our existence in isolation.⁠ ⁠ Prior to the pandemic, I was really known for capturing community. In the pandemic, it’s the complete opposite. What does that mean, as somebody that’s so used to being within family and community that I have to actually push away from all that? And how do you visually represent that?⁠ ⁠ I’m constantly dealing with Los Angeles in the personal. I deal with Los Angeles through migration, through multigenerational storylines. When somebody is looking at this and they’re thinking about Los Angeles, I would just hope that they would take a moment and think about Los Angeles not just as this facade of glitz and glamour and happiness. When you’re seeing people, the labor, when you see people having a sad moment — you see that we are just human. I think that’s always what my stories are trying to say: we exist in Los Angeles, don’t erase us. So, with this one, about isolation in summer, it’s the same thing: I exist, don’t erase me because I’m immunocompromised and I’m hidden in my house. I’m still here in Los Angeles."⁠ ⁠ Link in bio for @starmontana's photo essay on a summer alone.⁠ ⁠ ✍️/📸: @starmontana