In Passing
By Douglas Stockdale dstockdale
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Category: Fine Art Photography
Tags: urban landscape, roadside memorials, folk art, duotone photographs, personal project, documentary, testamonials, tributes, sculptures
This series started with the simple act of photographing one roadside memorial, which had been erected after an accident that took the lives of two young men on a desert road in the Nevada desert outside of Las Vegas. To photograph this memorial was a departure from my current creative landscape photography, as my landscape images did not include any human elements. I did not realize the ensuing effects of this single act.
My reaction to this first roadside memorial was that of a documentary photographer, in the spirit of Walker Evans during the 1930's. I saw the memorial as a sculpture that was unique and in the basic genre of Folk Art. This monument appeared to be made by non-artisans as a personal expression of grief, sorrow and celebration of lives that had tragically ended on this highway. This memorial was not even meant to be a work of Art, but a visual expression, as it was not very sophisticated but had a raw, emotional presence.
I felt compiled to act, initially to just document these folk art memorials, as a vehicle for my own photographic development. Later a more complex relationship began forming and developing between me as a photographer and the experiences I was having. I also keep asking myself; why is it now that I see these roadside monuments and why now do I feel compelled to interact with them? Perhaps they are a reminder of my own mortality.
Standard Landscape 10x8 inches (25x20 cm) 80 pages
Published: June 30, 2008
