Uzoma means “I will have a good path in life”. This name carries with it a sense of hope, direction, and resilience—qualities that mirror the experiences of many immigrants who bravely left their homelands in search of a better future. Starting from scratch, they navigated unfamiliar systems, built new communities, and worked tirelessly to create opportunities for the next generation.

In this series of photographs, I pictured a busy, chaotic set filled with African fabrics and props along with different paintings I’ve made over the years. I was drawn to that lack of structure and organization that’s comes with assimilating to a new environment as if everything you’d ever owned in your home country is now scattered in a new untouched space.

In this project I experimented with studio lighting and colored gels while intentionally building a cluttered set. This aesthetic choice mirrors the emotional reality many immigrants face: navigating a landscape that is both full of possibility and profoundly disorienting. The clutter isn’t just visual; it represents the tension between holding on and letting go, between identity and adaptation.