Project 1: Ephemeral

For this project I wasn't sure exactly what to do. I'm not used to working in this way. What I ended with is this...

Firstly it's important to understand my geography otherwise this makes almost no sense at all. Arizona loves guns and the site I chose is a place to get outdoors and hike. But this area is special because just on the other side of that mountain, there's a gun range and just down the road is Old Tucson. On the other hand there is also the International Wildlife Museum and the Desert Museum nearby too. All in this little area...

This project is/was inspired (and supposed to be) by Andy Goldsworthy's Rivers and Tides movie. What has hung me up mostly in this is that the movie puts so much emphasis on the "natural" world. I wanted to explore that connection of the "natural" world and how humans disconnect themselves from it.

I see the human animal very much part of the "natural" world simply because there is no such thing as the "unnatural" world. I just find it funny how people see themselves outside of nature and feel the need to "reconnect" to it but its something you can never escape from. This is one of those places where people try and "reconnect with nature." This location is sort of the center of this recreational region where there is a large rock formation that people rock climb on. The red stuff is little rifle target stickers to make up a larger target.


I qualify this project with this image... a sign at the gun range where I got the targets and the bullet casings for the picture below. This area is very very popular and has a lot going on but its very well taken care of despite its popularity. The Target, if you haven't already figured it out, is simply a metaphor for the area being a target and I aimed for the center. And if you're curious I did clean up the targets so don't worry.

Its interesting only the footprints really are left (for the most part). finding those shell casings was a trial unto itself (and I was at a gun range).

This one is more about how the remnants of recreation have become part of the area. I don't mean this in a bad way because these metal shell casings don't hurt anything in this environment yet their purpose isn't quite so innocent. I found the relationship of the human presence and how it's just part of the "natural" world an interesting relationship.

You might speculate that the objects in the photo are out of place in this environment... and you would be right but its not something unnatural (remember its just metal). I tried to blend the shells with the rocks and bring attention to them with the targets because you wouldn't notice them otherwise... trust me.

Anyway, you can get what you like from them, thats the cool thing about Art.