Welcome Home

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For the United States military community, to which I belong, the idea of home can be very complex. It can shift and acquire new meanings that go beyond a physical place, and take form in a group of persons, objects, or feelings. We easily enumerate how many places we have been to, answer where we live now, or identify the many commonalities we all experience as a community. At an individual level, however, our perception of home becomes a much more personal and complex experience.

This photographic series is my personal exploration into the perceptions of home for members of the military community. Growing up as a military brat, I began this search for camaraderie when I moved away from my home, a military town near a large city. My experience inside the military differed from my new surrounding and peers. Feeling misunderstood, I searched for others in the military community who shared similar experiences to mine. This exploration has allowed me to interject myself into the lives of military personnel and their families, observing each individual’s perception of home.