2021 05 30
The in-between spaces

Everyone comes to California from somewhere else, getting away from something or trying to find something new. But what do you find? Here a car rests in a carport attached to a pink mobil home in Jurupa Valley.

Barbed wire rims fencing of the empty lot next door. Bed sheets block out harsh rays of sun and viewer’s gaze, leaving little clues as to what’s inside the home. This is not a remarkable photo. It’s not aesthetically pleasing and the subject of the photo would be uninteresting to most people. Yet the photo alludes to a deeper narrative which has less to do with photography and more to do with how I feel about certain things. That despite our best efforts at living, the traditional trappings of success, comfort and achievement, eventually fall away through time, neglect, or lack of will or awareness. And that realizing this essential truth and gamely going on: to work, raising a family, and pursuing your dreams is where the small acts of resolve, heroism, and hope occur. It’s this collision between our own personal aspirations and the monumental forces of time and circumstance - often messy, always fleeting - that keeps pulling me toward new work. And why this photo - as unremarkable as it is - means something to me.