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Functional Ground

2002 - 2007

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C-prints 

18.25” edition of 10, 28.5” edition of 10, 40” edition of 3

 

At the crossroads of Gretna and Melville sits a dairy farm. In the series Functional Ground, I explore the visual terrain of this working farm and the surrounding roads and fields.  Shooting with a shallow depth of field and often at ground level, these images draw the viewer’s attention to the specific details of the scene—to the microcosm within this ecosystem.

 

Science and technology have given us new ways to catalog our world and our whereabouts. Each image in this series is titled with the date and the Global Positioning System (GPS) coordinates of the point from which it was photographed. Using this data emphasizes the connection between the interpreted image and the physical source. While the images show a natural environment marked by human use, the GPS coordinates refer to my tracks as I photograph this environment. 

 

Each image while precise in it's selective focus and coordinates, reflects one of an infinite number of views from that point emphasizing the unique experience of person and place. With the coordinates providing a skeleton, these images together create a subjective portrait of a place.