Christiana Rifaat: So it goes

Christiana Rifaat is a photographer from Florida. Her series “So it goes” depicts quiet domestic scenes that carry complex emotional tensions. The recurring cast of Rifaat’s family members occupy spaces within the home that look familiar, but feel foreign. The beautiful light Rifaat captured on film often conflicts the lingering, deep shadows that bring out feelings of distance and isolation.

“For as long as I can remember my mother has made a habit of making momentary habitats; an isolating custom intensifying our families dependency for one another and fixing us to the spaces we so briefly occupy. Throughout the last year I chose to photograph my mother and younger brother as they situated themselves in yet another home, this at a crucial time when I stopped proclaiming their home my own. The work includes both found and constructed images, a combination of scenes I bear witness to during my trips, as well as projections of what I assume occurs in my absence. Emotional and physical distance in the imagery represents my growing disconnects from both place and people and essentially my mourning for passing time. For my family the series embodies our ever-recurring tendency to discard potential and resolve to destructive internalization, a process that continues to hinder our lives. The project bears a personal significance but ultimately my aim is to make honest photographs that communicate beyond my subjective experience.”