Willa Westneat

When I was 17, my high school photography teacher assigned us to take a series of “unconventional portraits.” After waiting until the night before the assignment was due, and with no one else home, I decided to take self-portraits in my dimly lit basement. I talked to the camera, and it listened. That night of ghostly self-expression ignited my love for telling the camera a story, especially one about my own mind. Since then, I’ve taken many more self-portraits, portraits of others, and made videos, always with a focus on people, emotion, and connection.