For my final portfolio project in J331 Studio Lighting and the Photographic Portrait, I explored culture, community and American identity in the most obvious way possible: sandwiches. To use the term loosely, sandwiches (a protein eaten in between two grain-based slices) are pervasive throughout the world. Thus, many cultures and identities, many of which have made their way to America and Austin, have a take on it. I used the still life method to highlight the variety in the forms of the sandwich, and simultaneously depict the similarities between them, and by extension, us as Americans and human beings. Lately, we as Americans are more interested in what divides us than what unites us. However, the reality is that we’re all people, our identity is reflected in what all of us eat, and we all eat sandwiches.