Grand View Canyon Road, Idaho
Wish You Were Here series, 2009-2013
Sunset on Devil’s Lake, North Dakota
Wish You Were Here series, 2009-2013
Corn Palace, Mitchell, South Dakota
Wish You Were Here series, 2009-2013
Everglades National Momument Welcome Center, Florida
Wish You Were Here series, 2009-2013
Lobster, Islamadora, Florida
Wish You Were Here series, 2009-2013
Jefferson and Washington Monuments, Washington D.C.
Wish You Were Here series, 2009-2013
Nick's Beach Bar, Galveston, Texas
Wish You Were Here series, 2009-2013
Pemaquid Point Lighthouse, Pemaquid, Maine
Wish You Were Here series, 2009-2013
Geese in Flight, Enchanted Highway, North Dakota
Wish You Were Here series, 2009-2013
Veterans Memorial Park, Lewiston, Maine
Wish You Were Here series, 2009-2013
St. Louis Cemetery, New Orleans, Louisiana
Wish You Were Here series, 2009-2013
Rest Stop at Cozad, Nebraska
Wish You Were Here series, 2009-2013
Front Street, Ogalala, Nebraska
Wish You Were Here series, 2009-2013
New York City from Hoboken, New Jersey
Wish You Were Here series, 2009-2013
Route 66, Arizona
Wish You Were Here series, 2009-2013
Snow Canyon State Park, Utah
Wish You Were Here series, 2009-2013
Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco
Wish You Were Here series, 2009-2013
Downtown Las Vegas, Nevada
Wish You Were Here series, 2009-2013
Yellowstone National Monument Campground, Wyoming
Wish You Were Here series, 2009-2013
Samuel Clemen's Grave, Elmira, New York
Wish You Were Here series, 2009-2013
Mammoth Springs with British Tourists, Wyoming
Wish You Were Here series, 2009-2013
The Wall That Heals, Altoona, Pennsylvania
Wish You Were Here series, 2009-2013
Rocky Mountains, Wyoming
Wish You Were Here series, 2009-2013
Seneca Rocks, West Virginia
Wish You Were Here series, 2009-2013
Plymouth Rock, Massachusetts
Wish You Were Here series, 2009-2013
Gettysberg Memorial, Pennsylvania
Wish You Were Here series, 2009-2013
Bottle House, Kaleva, Michigan
Wish You Were Here series, 2009-2013
United Auto Workers Tribute to Women Memorial, Flint, Michigan
Wish You Were Here series, 2009-2013
Downtown Albany, New York
Wish You Were Here series, 2009-2013
First Congregational Church, Vermont
Wish You Were Here series, 2009-2013
Covered Bridge, Waveland, Indiana
Wish You Were Here series, 2009-2013
Shark Store, South Carolina
Wish You Were Here series, 2009-2013
Missouri State Penitentiary, Jefferson City, Missouri
Wish You Were Here series, 2009-2013
Barbed Wired Buffalo, Gotthenberg, Nebraska
Wish You Were Here series, 2009-2013
Wish You Were Here
20"x30" and 10"x15" photographs; 2009 - 2014
This Avion travel trailer, named Alice for the first woman to drive across the country, has traveled to 48 contiguous states between 2009-2013. I photographed Alice as the surrogate for the nuclear family of a bygone era, posed in front of the monuments, the scenic overlooks, and the kitschy roadside attractions, though the ever-present road stands with her, beckoning us to the next nostalgic turn-off.
While this work has the visual impact of beautiful photography and accessible ideas (road trips, travel trailers), the intellectual merit lies in its ability to narrate a story—something did happen (I drove to those places and made a photograph) and what might have happened (the viewer could do it too)—and speak to the cultural story of the “road trip culture” that arrived with the age of the interstate highway and the automobile. This culture is one that has declined as air travel has become more affordable, yet still maintains a romantic association with freedom, adventure, and spontaneity. This work invites viewers to “feel” those reactions, and attempts to generate nostalgia for something that may or may not really exist for the viewer, the road trip, or even the artist. This work also reveals the contradiction within those longings, as many of the businesses and towns that were formed as a result of road trip culture have fallen into decline, disrepair, or disappeared all together.