Mike is a chronological photographic record of the life of Elijah Howe’s father tracing his life from childhood to death. A mixture of images from the family archive and images taken by Elijah depict Mike as he progresses from his youth to a heavy metal career, then as a husband and father, and into middle age. The family archive is built from images taken by Elijah’s parents, Mikes parents, family members and friends, all housed in a shoebox of Mike’s garage. This box of prints and negatives creates a collective multigenerational memory of an individual told through the eyes of many. After his death, the images shift, unraveling into chaos, solitude, and a profound sense of emptiness. This visual descent reflects the lingering presence of those that we lose and the imprints they leave behind. The images are bookended by photographs taken in Humboldt County after Mike’s death, beginning with an image of an exit door at his wake and concluding with a devastated landscape of the town he once called home.