‘Road to Nowhere’ evolved from four separate ideas.
Motion Performance, New Year Resolutions, Political Correctness and Austerity.
The above titles did not translate well into photo projects, intentions were thought out and I’ve wrote about the concepts (unpublished because they do not relate photographically to this set).
What has become clear is that photographic projects may not always be appropriate despite a valid reason for the concept. For example, “Political Correctness” is more ideal as an essay rather than photo project. The photographs taken for “Motion Performance” did not effectively demonstrate what I wanted to achieve within a single exposure, nor did it provide an adequate set of abstract images.
Photography as a practice and format is currently in a state of flux, just as my own aspirations in photography are. Last year, I compiled a 26 part photo essay titled ‘Coming or Going’. The photographs represent a dream like state of two way traffic which asks the question “Are you/we/them coming or going”. At the time I didn’t fully understand what I wanted to achieve with my photography and due to the sporadic nature of my own processes and cancelled or failed projects I decided to revisit the set and create a new ‘Post Photography’ set of images.
Recently learning about the importance of photographic display and the nature of photography (or more correctly, post-photography), I decided to search for alternative meanings in previous work while drawing on the inspiration of others. Charles Grogg has said (referring to ‘regrowth: 2013’) that damaging or altering his photographic works brings his attention to them once again. In his images, he manipulates the printed photograph to add further dimensionality to his photographs.
Adding dimensionality to existing photographs is a regular practice within post photography. Brendon Fowler has said he uses photographs as material for sculpting work (Fowler: 2013). This practice ensures the produced artwork is more than the original photographs.
For ‘Road to Nowhere’, I knew I wanted to damage my original photographs as a demonstration of my own approach in that certain projects may never materialise or simply be a facsimile of the original idea. “Coming or Going” is ideal to develop further to add additional meaning.
By destroying the environment, by burning the roads, by eliminating the method to move within my photographs I and showing you that while I often hesitate in photography, the idea is still there and relevant to me and to the viewer today, just as it was when the original photographs were taken.
I am permanently on a road to nowhere.
Tom Robson 