|
THE
NOCTURNAL TOURIST
54 DIGITAL PRINTS & VARIOUS RUMOURS
IASKA Kellerberrin,
WA, Australia, June 2001. This project is part of the ongoing Migratory
Projects 2000-2006.
These images
attempt to operate as a set of whispers. Taken as if they are a set
of forensic archives or stills from an unknown movie set, each shot
is a secret, a rumour on display. The images are intended to imply
and work in unison with the living stories and narratives present within
the town’s community, as well as communicate the odd detail to
the passer by.
Each shot
also functions as a document of the town’s design, history and
social activity. A set for dramas to occur or a mute reminder of things
long since gone: are they sites of significance, the mundane dramatised,
or uneasy sinister scenes?
Nocturnal
Tourism might be seen as an alternative to the sunny clichés
often gathered when passing through a place. A town devoid of it’s
people, everything becomes highly acute. Things appear to be models,
perfect scenes in which lives can take place. Bricks, doors, pools,
cars, living rooms, trees, toilets, water tanks, shop windows, buildings,
towns and cities become scaled- up monsters.
I may have
only talked to six local people during my short stay, but heard stories
of millions of dollars being made off the land, fickle seasons, kids
making bombs, teenagers moving on, the risks of wheat and sheep, the
transition of shop owners, beauty in the landscape, hangings in trees,
and houses built and inhabited only for a small time by local newlyweds.
Thanks to
Donna Dransfield, Sophie O’Brien and Tony York. |
|
|
|