The following is a photo essay titled "Goddess of wisdom: Photographing UC Berkeley’s libraries" that I created for the Daily Californian, UC Berkeley's newspaper. It can be found online here; the essay also appeared in print.

The photo essay placed third for Best Photo Series at the 2023 California College Media Association Awards.

To pass beneath the stern face of Athena, goddess of wisdom, peering down from atop the north entrance to Doe Library is to enter a temple to the truth born from coexisting contradictions: sciences and humanities, objectivity and subjectivity, form and function.

Awe and wonder perhaps best describe the feeling one experiences upon entering a library.

Like many other objects of our amazement — a starry night, a giant sequoia or a vast sea — a library is a common ground for our humanity, capable of being appreciated by all. The value of a library is the value of truth, nature or beauty.

And much like the things to which we attribute value, libraries do not provide all the answers to our questions; rather, they beckon us forth, challenging us to find them for and within ourselves.