Making up 20% of the fresh water reserves on Earth’s surface, the Great Lakes have been an area of relative stability for many millennia. Over the past 13 years, I have been photographing the shoreline of Lake Ontario. Lake Ontario, a Haudenosaunee word meaning “shining waters”, embodies a paradox; abundance under increasing threat.

Lake Ontario is a sanctuary and a site of fragility.

These photographs depict the evolving tension between protection and vulnerability in an era defined by global warming. Embedded within these images is a quiet sense of mourning. My repeated visits to the shoreline become acts of witness, and each image functions as both document and elegy; an extended farewell to each fleeting configuration of cloud, ice, sand, and wave.

This series will be displayed at Central Library in the Rundel Arts Room as a photographic installation. There will be a performance event with special guest performers on September 17th from 5:30-7:30 and September 19th from 2:30-4:30. No ticket required. Free event. Officially part of Rochester Fringe Fest 2026. Click for more info.