High and Low
On December 17th, 2011, a childhood friend reported his 20-month-old daughter missing. It was believed that an intruder had taken her from her room in the middle of the night. The media descended upon my small Maine hometown and the surrounding communities joined forces in an overwhelming search effort. Flocks of orange vested searchers filled the woods everyday. The river was searched and neighborhood ponds were drained.
Crossing the line between fine art and documentary, I created a visual narrative which embodied the mystery, suspicion, and frustration surrounding the case. My photographs became my attempt to make sense of everything as my imagination was being dragged into multiple directions. The images explored all these imagined possibilities and my own suspicions that were shared by my frustrated community.
The Ayla Reynolds case is currently the largest search effort for a missing person in the state of Maine. No arrests have been made and she is now presumed dead.