I've been working in "stealth" mode since August on a series that documents the current state of two urban creeks in Jacksonville. The condition of these waterways is so undeniably bad, I was motivated to bring awareness to just how bad things are. It's hard to believe that as a city, we spend inordinate amounts of money on some things, yet manage to ignore so many other obvious priorities. It's like owning a house and not fixing the roof.
This project was initiated by a tour from my friend Jack Meeks, who viewed my MOCA exhibit and then offered to show me a few things. We drove to the back of the Sulzbacher Center and then through the Eastside and Springfield neighborhoods. I was very taken by what I saw and heard from Jack, a longtime resident of Springfield. I felt that there was something here visually that needed more consideration, so I returned the next day to begin making photographs.
Behind Sulzbacher on the E Monroe bridge I found this scene:
and turned around to record this:
At that point I knew I need to make this a project, and began researching the creek and areas to photograph. There was no shortage of dystopian landscapes. My interest soon expanded to include McCoys Creek, a waterway that flows near my studio, and equally victimized by industry and ignored by our city. These photographs grew to become Creeks Rising, and I had the opportunity to exhibit a selection of these on the ground floor MOCA gallery which had a vacancy for 2 months.
We are actively trying to find other venues for the exhibit and expanding it to include other aspects of the project.
Click for Series Images.
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Click for Exhibition Installation Views.