Work by Project: Exposures

The Exposures Project was selected by Gallery Route One's curatorial committee for presentation in the gallery's "With the Earth" project space shortly after the project began in 2004. After a few twists and turns and some false starts, I honed my concept and began to look at the project not so much as a documentation but as conversation between the land and me. The final project included color photography, video, and video installation.

From my project web site:

Exposures documents my year-long exploration of the ongoing conversation between nature, time, and the human heart. The project began as a simple inquiry into some vaguely scientific questions: what is the impact of nature on itself over time? What sort of subtle changes occur that the human vantage point might obscure? How does nature heal itself, and how does human intervention help or hurt it? After just a few walks down my chosen trails, however, I came to realize I was inquiring into my own nature, that the repetitive journeying and obsessive documentation of small quietly growing and dying things in the face of dramatic and classically beautiful vistas was as much about my own emotional survival skills as it was the trail’s continued reinvention of itself. Through the course of the year, we--the trail and I--became metaphors for each other.

The work was produced between April 2004 and April 2005; over this period of time, I visited the park 41 times and walked in the neighborhood of 165 miles. I exposed 19 rolls of color film and shot approximately 5 hours of video. I consumed an average of one pastry and one large coffee from the Bovine Bakery during each trip, and spent an approximate total of $118 on cheese at the Cowgirl Creamery through the course of the project.

To see still images from the project, check out the Exposures Project Gallery. You can also watch the component video works in the Exposures Project video viewer, or visit the project web site.