I've Learned To Hold Myself Softly: Cali M. Banks

She began documenting her hometown of Syracuse in November 2022. When she traveled back to places of importance during my "coming of age" years, she realized many places of both solace and nostalgia have been demolished or abandoned. Banks started to rework this experimental, documentary project with ideas of "teardown towns" and blind tradition. She utilizes self-portraiture, still-lives, and architecture that is specific to Syracuse, and symbolism depicting bodies, ritual, and sensuality, which in turn uses nonverbal communication as a way to emphasize tradition. This project also explores the complexities of layers of existence through materialistic remnants and the essence of non-tangibility. With a rapidly changing hometown as the core of the work, Banks is capturing attention with a familiar setting to the community.