Documentation of Former Best Friends Forever, 2009
Gallery4Culture, Seattle, WA
A conversation with a childhood friend led me to realize that we have startlingly different memories of various shared experiences; while I remember reaching out to new friends in an attempt to be inclusive, he recalls me casting him aside for a temporary companion. This finding sparked an interest in interviewing all of the young men who were at one time my “best friend” — guys with whom I was once inseparable, but now speak to rarely.
Instead of reconnecting solely over Facebook (as I have with many other people from my past), I interviewed my former best friends in person or over the phone. Based on our individual life choices — which have led to our gradual parting of ways — I assumed that I would be very different from each one of them. While this is true to an extent, I found that there is still a common bond from years of shared experiences and the simple commitment of once being "best friends."