"'A teaching went forth, a belief ran beside it: Everything is empty, everything is one, everything is past! And from every hill it resounded: Everything is empty everything is one, everything is past!'"
-The Prophet, Thus Spoke Zarathustra, Friedrich Nietzsche​
"'This long lane behind us: it goes on for an eternity. And that long lane ahead of us - that is another eternity. They are in opposition to one another, these paths; they abut on one another: and it is here at this gateway that they come together. The name of the gateway is written above it:"Moment"'".
-Of The Vision and The Riddler, Thus Spoke Zarathustra, Friedrich Nietzsche
I am held to my surroundings by my shaking fingers and the smell of exhaust drifting in the air next to me. What I can see, hear, smell and touch brings me to the exact time and place of where I am standing. The constant awareness of human life outside of my viewpoint quiets down enough for me to appreciate the hum of a single fluorescent light. I can accept this as the present. I wish to hold onto the feeling for as long as I am able, but once the wind stops hitting my face I am no longer capable of distinguishing my interactions within the world from myself. What makes the company of the present so intimate is its entanglement with the future and the past. A moment of simultaneous reflection within what has happened and what is to come. These photographs are my keepsakes that I am scared that everything I have come to know will leave before I understand it. By photographing, I can give myself an illusion of control to process. I am playing God, whether that is to make it last.
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As a young girl, my first memories and introduction to life began with September 11th. The camera lens acted like a microscope, I could privately question the conservative American belief system I participated in. Retrospectively my thesis project was created as a way for me to take up space as a storyteller and address the emotional confines I was feeling throughout adolescence. I am now able to settle from searching for answers, peace, home, connections with people, and my past religion...maybe settling on that is what I will always be doing. Photography has served as protection and representation, giving me the freedom of expression and the liberation of curiosity.
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"Born on Staten Island and raised in the Hudson Valley, photographer Megan Reilly graduated with her Bachelors in Fine Arts and photography from The State University of New York. Her series, “A Deal with God,” from 2018-2020 is an introspective photo essay reflecting on themes of childhood, religion, lesbian sexuality, and learning how to grow into a woman:"
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