Guarded

Chloe Ortiz

I took this self portrait at the end of my sophomore year, a time in my life when I was struggling to hide my depression from those around me. I put so much effort into maintaining the composed public-facing edges of myself—represented in this photo by my hands carefully positioned to look content and steady, my leg seemingly ready to walk forward—while hiding the wreckage of my interior state from view. The viewer can't see the figure's tears behind the sheet or feel the struggle of keeping the forest behind her. ​
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Chloe Ortiz is a Pitzer senior (PZ '22). As a child she was banned from discussing religon and politics and she has now devoted her life to studying them.