The title They Live nods to the cult 1988 film about the ability to see hidden messages, but in the context of this series, this phrase takes on a more personal meaning. It draws a subtle line between they and I. It marks the distance between the settled and the unsettled - the ones who live and the one who watches from the sidelines, still figuring out how become part of they.

This project began during a time of transition, shaped by immigration and social isolation. As a trained psychologist, I was drawn to the idea of perceptual readiness - how our emotional state shapes what we notice, how we start to look for cues in our surroundings to ground ourselves in the moments of doubt, uncertainty and isolation. When there’s no one to talk to, we search for signs: a phrase on a billboard, a glitch in a train announcement, a pattern in how things align. It becomes a kind of one-way conversation with the city, with yourself, with whatever might answer back.

They Live is about that search for connection, for footing, for a sense of home that hasn’t quite arrived yet.