Sarah Pacheco
Someone You May Know focuses on my friend, Ali, who is unlike any guy I have ever met. His outfit of choice is sweatpants and a t-shirt, he grows out his pinky nails, files them to a stiletto point, and paints them black (or purple), and usually has a Tiffany Swiss Army knife necklace around his neck. When you first meet him, he is outgoing, talkative, funny and doesn’t care what anyone thinks about him.
But there’s more beneath the surface, like almost anyone, he struggles with mental health, but only recently has begun talking about it. I wanted to highlight two things with my series, the first being non-conformity and not caring about what other people say or think about you and the second being mental health and how you don’t know what someone is going through behind closed doors.
The series comes in two parts; the first captures his non-conformity and what people initially notice about him, just the first layer of who he is. The second is a series of film-based photos I’ve taken the first moment I see him when we hang out, to show his true emotions and feelings of that day.
Sarah Pacheco is a visual artist based in Toronto working mainly with film and has a particular interest in digital retouching and book making. Her work focuses on personal experiences of healing, growth, and relationships. Through her work, she strives to inspire others and hopes that people find comfort in knowing they aren’t alone in their struggles.