Where are you not?: January 2007

Friday, January 12, 2007

so far away

I captured this short video at about 8 a.m. Thursday morning last week while riding along Amtrak's Coast Starlight line that travels from Los Angeles to Seattle, at this point somewhere between Dunsmuir, California, and Klamath Falls, Oregon.

As Carole King sings (that's what I happened to be listening to, having added a few songs from her 'Tapestry' album before our trip, weeks before I knew I'd make an unexpected detour to Oregon), "doesn't anybody stay in one place anymore?" My recent four-part travels (the last part unexpected and not exactly under the best circumstances) along the west coast reminded me just how large this country is (and how beautiful) and, no matter where I am, how far away I am from somebody I care about. I was simultaneously sad to leave the folks I'd just been with, but looking forward to the folks I was on my way to see, missing my significant other who had already returned home.

About the project and how you can participate...

This project began in the summer months of 2006, after road trips in New England and along the west coast, documenting my travels with digital photographs and blog entries. I became interested in thinking about blogging as virtual travel writing, authenticating my experiences much like sending postcards or buying souvenirs might. Over the next several months, the project evolved into a gallery floor installation, a postcard, an interactive website, and a semester later, into digital prints and a video sequence. The distance in time and space from those original travel experiences became part of the project, embodied in the way it was created, installed, and disseminated. I was interested then and now in creating a setting for the possibility of narrative, both within and beyond the space of the gallery.

You can view documentation of the entire project here. The website has been streamlined to include only this blog, which passes the question, "Where are you not?" along to the viewer/visitor. I encourage you to participate. Send your response to:

PO Box 200584
Boston, MA 02120

Or email your response to info@wherewearenot.org. Images are encouraged and will be posted along with responses.

If you'd like a postcard (see image above) to keep as a souvenir, pass along to someone else, or to use for your response, send me an email with your mailing address and the quantity you'd like to receive.

Where are you not?

Friday, January 12, 2007

so far away

About the project and how you can participate...

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