Perception portrays the struggles young women face while constructing their identities. Creating one's identity is a personal journey, and it moves from moment to moment. As a mother and photographer, using my daughter as the model in these images was both a natural and a challenging choice. With my struggles of constructing my identity as a young lady and a professional in a male-dominated workforce, it felt natural to explore and involve my daughter in this creative process. These images symbolically depict the struggles one goes through to find oneself.

I am constructing a universal and metaphoric message through this body of work. The theory of identity construction presumes that distinctiveness is an ever-changing process. Undertaking the development of identity is a personal project, as well as disciplining and governing oneself. When we don't define ourselves, others often push us into a category. We might then fall into the pitfall of becoming stereotypes or roles that do not reflect our real uniqueness. I hope to allow the images to suggest a symbolic metaphor of the experience and permit viewers to identify with their own experiences.

"When you discover who you are, then you will be free," Ralph Ellison, Invisible Man.