These youth have grown up on screens, looking in on an adult society where we ignore and cover up our problems — instead, passing them on to the younger generation. They are overwhelmed with sensationalized media, distractions of consumerism, and fears inspired by climate change and political folly. My photography provides extreme focus, time, and dignity to process grief and step into adulthood.

surreal, often grotesque imagery, slow and hyper-controlled movements, and exploration of primal human conditions, using white body paint and minimal costumes to reveal raw emotion, inner psyche, and societal struggles, creating a haunting, hypnotic, and transformative experience for the observer performances rituals contrived and real illustrating the grief felt after losing a friend Trempealeau Hagios Morninglight to suicide on the Taos Gorge Bridge

I created this ritual to deal with integrating the experience of my own trauma as the experience itself was coming to a close. It gave me a way to handle all the intense feelings: It’s an inescapable fact that this happened to me; I did not in any way consent to this happening to me; the experience changed me and the person I am now depends on that experience having happened; I want to be who I am, but I’m also feeling the sheer pain of the trauma. The purpose of the ritual is to acknowledge the pain, accept that it happened, and move towards letting it go while still embracing the person one has become through the experience.

Taos New Mexico, Heather Lynn Sparrow

Taos, New Mexico, is rich in rituals rooted in its Native American Pueblo, Hispanic, and spiritual traditions, including

Taos Pueblo's ancient ceremonies(like Harvest and Feast Days with sacred dances, requiring deep respect and no photos), the festivePow Wow(a multicultural celebration of Indigenous song and dance), andHispanic traditionslikeLas Posadas(a Christmas play) andfolk music events. Modern spiritual seekers also engage in rituals involving plant medicine and indigenous practices, often blending traditions for healing and connection. 

This photo ritual is in collaboration with teens growing up in Taos New Mexico over a course of 22 years

Photography as a ritual

transforms the act of image-making from a simple task into a meaningful, mindful practice, creating structure, fostering presence, and connecting us to deeper emotions or spirituality by focusing on repetition, intention, and transformation, turning everyday moments into sacred acts of seeing, healing, or documenting life's unfolding story. It involves purposeful steps—like setting up a shot, preparing a space, or repeating an action—that create sacred time and cultivate inner awareness, moving beyond mere documentation to express gratitude, process emotions, or find beauty in the mundane.