What started off as a personal vendetta to take some sort of control over a strange time in my life eventually became an exploration of relationships. Specifically relating (or being unable to relate) to ones environment but also to a certain culture not born into but diagnosed. Through environmental scenes, I sought to make connections between the comforts of domesticity within the confines of a clinical, sterile cancer treatment center. Included are the valet parking lot as well as the women’s dressing room, hospital rooms, treatment hallway snapshots, and mostly the waiting room – where the most time is spent. I do not want to alienate the viewer. I do not want to simply present a society they may never be a part of, rather I want to create accessible links such as a familiar TV show or suburban kitchen potted flowers in order to share my experiences. These photographs juxtapose inspirational and supportive room décor with the sometimes hash reality of the waiting room. I did this to convey my feelings of being suffocated and almost enslaved by these cliché plaques and flyers. I felt reduced to a statistic. In terms of surgery and sickness, the body and mind can become fragmented. A sense of self and identity can be lost and a hospital room can start to feel like home. I think being defined as well as confined by one’s surroundings is something everyone has felt at some point in life. To convey this idea, my portraits are fragmented. Backs of heads, bottom halves of bodies. Also fragmented is the evidence of both the waiting room and my personal life after treatment. The second half of the project documents my disassociation upon being released from treatment. A sort of culture shock was felt as I began to fall back into my old life. The photographs seen from this era mix aspects of the hospital within my personal space. Straight and literal scenes are shown along side of dramatized work evoking the hospital power to bleed into my dreams and psyche. This project deals with waiting. Both within a designated area inside a hospital as well as the years that follow once one is released from this community. This book works both personally and objectively using stark straight photos as well as some humor to fully flesh out this experience.