I've spent a month documenting the lives of a group of four young adults. At first, I thought it was going to be easy: we meet at a certain place at a certain time, take photos and meet up again the next time. Simple and quick.

However, after the first shoot I felt uncomfortable when I looked at the photos I'd taken. I felt like I'd invaded the intimacy of four people I didn't know just for a project.

After that, I decided to change my approach. I wanted to get to know them and document our future friendship. 

Throughout the project, I felt privileged to witness those precious moments of their youth. In a way, I felt privileged to be part of those moments.

Future Nostalgia is therefore both a record of their ambitious, hope-filled youth and an album filled with our memories.

Immigration involves a form of fragmentation: one part of the self remains attached to the place of origin, while another tries to adapt, learn, and integrate into a new environment.

Who do we become when we leave the landscape that shaped us? How can we preserve our roots while accepting to redefine ourselves elsewhere?

Tamari’i No Te Moana (Children of the Ocean), explores themes of cultural identity, immigration, and belonging through a contemporary documentary photography approach. Rather than documenting places in an objective way, I used my own experience of moving between Tahiti and Melbourne to create a more personal and intimate visual narrative.