For today’s Cameo we’re having 26 year-old American photographer Rachael Banks sharing Between Here and Home, a series of environmental portraits of her family and friends. See here for all the photographers who previously made a cameo in FotoRoom.

Ciao Rachael, how are you?
I am doing well and adjusting to my new life back to living in the Midwest again. I am currently focusing on my recent appointment as Assistant Professor of Photography at Northern Kentucky University and working on a new project called I wrote you a letter, I got you some flowers.

What is photography for you?
I’m not a very emotional person—photography has always been a tool that allowed me to say and express ideas or feelings that words failed to articulate. I also see photography as an important visual documentation of the human condition on both a personal and universal skill. Photography also allows me to challenge and promote conversation about the idea of truth, memory, and existence.

What is Between Home and Here about? 
If I could describe this series in one word it would be love. I started making this work because I felt guilty for leaving my family and hometown to pursue a master degree and gain experience as an artist. I have a love/hate relationship with my hometown and have struggled a lot with issues pertaining to abandonment and codependency. When I left my hometown, I knew I was making the right decision but it didn’t make it any less difficult. I originally started making the work because I was homesick and would drive back to Kentucky from Texas on a frequent basis. I would photograph my friends and family while I visited to make up for my constant travel, and it slowly turned into a body of work. However, it wasn’t until I left this place and these people that I realized so many of the driving forces behind why I take pictures. I had to move 14 hours away to realize it.

Where can you be found online?
At my website and on Instagram.