Lauren Garms

At 6:30 am on May 31, 2013 Antiwonne M. Goins broke into Christen Garms’ apartment in the Old Towne East neighborhood of Columbus, Ohio. Christen awoke to Antowne at the foot of her bed, he then proceeded to rape, brutally assault and attempted to kill her before she was able to escape to her neighbor apartment where she contacted the authorities.

Everything is Terrible, Everything is Great, 2013 is a documentary photographic series investigating the recovery from this traumatic event by my older sister, Christen Garms.

In this series I followed Christen around for 24 hours, documenting one day in her life after this life-shattering event. Here we are able to observe her in her surroundings; at the grocery store, her apartment and work, while witnessing her ability to continue with her everyday tasks.

Throughout this entire process, I realized that the only way I felt connected with my sister was to photograph her, it was more or a less a way I could communicate with her. I didn’t know how to talk to her about the event or what should say or could do for her. Being eight years apart in age we had never been close but somehow through this process of attempting to understand and heal we are now able to support one another.


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