This is a collection of portraits of people who posted casual encounters ads on craigslist.com, landscapes of where their encounters took place, and images of their encounters. Craigslist no longer has a personals section—of which Casual Encounters was a subsection—as it was deemed illegal and thus abolished under American House Resolution.1865: Allow States and Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act of 2017. This project started as an attempt to shock my college professors and ended up a years long journey into the unknown. I’m a total prude, and this work taught me that sometimes the medium isn’t the message; the message is the message. Despite being a bit vulgar, these ads that people were posting looking for a “jizz guzzler” or “t-girl with big dick”, were really just calls for meaningful connection. I met so many people who were so kind to me, and took me into their lives for a moment and shared something of their longing, their loneliness, or their sadness. These pictures are a testament to the human desire to connect, even if it can be a bit…..
