Chosen Vessel

Essay 459 • Aug 10th 2020

“Friends are your chosen family,” I was told years ago when I lived in my first NYC apartment. These words have stuck with me since then and have carried into my friendship with Foster. She became my sister very quickly, easily and without any hesitance. She offered strength where I was weak, and reassurance where I was doubtful. Unconditional love.

This particular weekend we chose to get away from the city after a heartbreak. It was one of the first hints of true pain that I had witnessed her show me with such open vulnerability. In making these photographs I wanted to not only capture this side of her, but to also showcase the powerful strength I saw still burning inside of her. She became a vessel for these truths, and we stayed together until we were both emptied and filled again.













 

Nike De Carlo is a twenty-five year-old photographer from Brooklyn, NY. “Documenting youth is important to me because it is a subject that is passionate, never-ending, and fresh. I see boys and girls longing to be free, to be loved, and to experience the wholeness of living. My work relies on the environments that my subjects call home – their secret places where they are most accepted and safe. I choose to document this subject to define the meaning of immunity, discovery, relationships, and friendships.”
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Model: Foster James
Clothing: Andrea Diodati