about “turbulent” project
waterparks is one of my favorite bands. i'm very attracted to waterparks' heavy use of metaphors and color to describe anxiety, intense feelings, mood, angst, brutal honesty, and self-reflection. you can feel the energy through their records, and their music accompanies their lyrics perfectly: angsty, "jittery" and anxiety-inspired, either borderline negative, extremely lovesick, or upbeat, and a perfect hybrid of punk rock + electropop. after listening to most of their songs, i'm left feeling like they understand how i feel in a spiritual level that i can't explain to anyone else. all of this inspired me to do a cinematic-esque photoseries where i encorporate some of my all-time favorite waterparks lyrics into my visual narrative. this series means a lot to me, and i let myself be really vulnerable for it (not that i'm not already expressive before).
i started thinking about this project in 2017 and initially wanted to wrap this project up in 2018. instead, i chose to build on it, especially because waterparks continues to release songs that i intensely relate to. the title of this photoseries, turbulent, is actually the title of a recently released song— i'm so glad i waited until 2019 to wrap up this project.
it's not only their music that is brilliant: their whole branding speaks to me— sarcastic, lots of angst and intense feelings, all-caps cyber-screams, irony, a hint of resentment for how heartless the world can be, vibrant colors, and being unapologetically themselves (did you know awsten legally changed his name from austin to awsten? goals). while some may regard waterparks as yet another "shallow" boyband who can't be taken seriously (i believe they emphasize the importance of staying youthful and borderline obnoxious), i profoundly relate to everything that they are, and they inspire me to stop giving too much attention to what others may think of me and to just do whatever makes me happy.
“if i wasn’t thin and white with blue hair would i be here? maybe if i kill myself you’ll know i’m sincere.”
i thought naming this project "turbulent" was perfect because it pretty much summarizes 2019 for me so far— it was a hell of a ride. 2019 was filled with anxiety, emotional roller-coasters, emotional distress, lovesickness, a handful of life lessons, lots of growing pains, bumpy roads, and blessings in disguise. but if you know me, you'd know that happiness isn't my source of inspiration— my best work happens when i'm emotionally unstable :)
i had the pleasure of seeing waterparks live three times and meeting them twice. i learned about them when they opened for nevershoutnever. at first, i only "ironically listened to their songs" because they're catchy, but then i find myself analyzing the lyrics and realizing how relatable and profound they were.
tl;dr: waterparks ruined my life, so i decided to create a photoseries centered around them. enjoy.