Mauricio Alejo

The sugar canister slipped out of my hand and I thought “Now this!” I know it’s stupid to complain about such a small accident, but this happened around a time in my life when things either were or felt unfortunate.

I was getting divorced and this is the tiny basement apartment in Kensington, Brooklyn, I moved to. I’m not the kind of guy who goes about life recording personal moments. But I ended up taking the photo because when I stepped away it just made me think of the Big Bang, and I suddenly related to the idea in a very emotional way. Now and then, whenever I see this picture, it transports me back to that time in my life. I think of nebulas, galaxies, constellations, planets, and the haphazard arrangement of things. I also wonder about people I knew, about my life and their lives and what if we were those little tiny grains of sugar — sitting in a cluster or alone, away from everybody. What would we think of the place we end up in?