Jesse Strohauer is a multi-disciplinary artist based in Brooklyn, NY. Their work is inspired by their religious upbringing in rural Michigan, their struggles with mental illness, and their endeavor to find beauty, grace, and gratitude in all life's circumstances.

"Goldenrod" is a nod to the weeds that flower and inaugurate the end of Summer in Southwest Michigan.

Storhauer explains; ‘I visited my grandpa who was in hospice and on the way home I came across this chipmunk who had succumbed to some illness but was still well preserved and very beautiful, almost like they had been embalmed. I found a couple goldenrod stocks and laid them adjacent to their body and snapped this photo to honor their life.

About a month later my Grandpa passed and his body was also placed alongside flowers. This photo is a celebration of life and beauty and carrying on the memory of those who came before us.’

Goldenrod, 2022

Digital photography