Road Works

2007 - 2015

 

C-prints 

18.25” edition of 10, 28.5” edition of 8, 40” edition of 3

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Having moved to Connecticut from New York City years ago, I spend much of my time driving.  Whereas I used to people-watch while walking in the city, in Connecticut I focused on the road.  When noticing a skid mark, I would wonder what circumstances created it. This curiosity was no doubt linked to the death of my father, who fell asleep at the wheel of his car when I was a child.  Many years later I visited the crash site but saw no trace of the accident.

 

An exploration of marks on roads Road Works looks at the road as a palimpsest--an accumulation of traces from journeys traveled, nature's impact and public maintenance.

 

The Global Positioning System (GPS) coordinates in each title mark the point from which each photograph was taken--indicating that it is one view from that point on Earth. As these road marks reflect the prior actions or events that created them, similarly my negative and print record my perspective. Recognizing my fantasy that there would be evidence possibly marking my father’s exit from this world led me to look at roads in a different way—to see roads themselves as road signs and to read their marks as metaphors.