BEARING

Artist Statement

Bearing studies the complex relationships within the Navy Junior Reserve Officers Training Corps at Liberty High School, a public school, in Renton, Washington; it examines how military structure and principles function within civilian education. This documentary photography project, made over a three-year immersion within this unit, captures the tensions between personal and social identity and belonging as adolescents navigate a program that demands conformity while fostering individual growth.

The title Bearing holds many meanings. Military bearing speaks to the discipline cadets cultivate to maintain physical and mental composure and respond with unruffled professionalism when tested by pressure and scrutiny. Navigational bearing represents their search for direction, finding their course through the program’s demanding structure and rigorous mentorship. The weight-bearing aspect acknowledges what they shoulder—academic pressures, family expectations, and the contradictions of conservative military values within a diverse school community.

My photographs document this nuanced reality: moments where formal and concrete structure creates safety and belonging for students who might otherwise feel adrift, alongside instances where individual expression chafes against institutional expectations. The images reveal how cadets bear up under the program’s physical and mental challenges, all while building genuine community. These young people contend with not just military protocols, but deep questions of identity, patriotism, and where they stand within contemporary America.

Bearing ultimately considers how this controversial, yet often beneficial program serves students, many of whom need its resources, structure, and sense of purpose—illustrating the complicated ways institutions can both constrain and liberate adolescent potential.