Goodbye Hello: the last payphones in Jacksonville FL
"Goodbye Hello" is a series of portraits and contextual images of Jacksonville's last payphones. For 8 years I passed a payphone on the way to my studio. I knew that one day the phone would be gone and I would regret all those times I thought but did not act. After that photo, I became curious about other phones in the area, which drove an obsession to document every payphone in the city. Once a ubiquitous part of the urban landscape, payphones are a rarity in Jacksonville. Most do not work and are in serious states of disrepair.
Everyone of my generation has payphone stories, memories of an essential part of our culture that gradually disappeared. I never thought much about it until now. Using Google Street View, I walked every major street in Jacksonville. I found that any remaining phones are in “poor” neighborhoods – at convenience stores, small restaurants, gas stations, and strip malls. I ventured into all these areas to make photographs, feeling self-conscious of being in places I didn’t belong. The presence of a payphone correlates with abandoned commercial spaces, urban blight, homelessness, and poverty. Unfortunately, the distribution of over 200 payphones covers most of the city.
I met many people, some curious as to what I was doing, perhaps suspicious of my intentions, or needing a few dollars for food. What started as record of the uniqueness of individual phones evolved into portrayal of economic inequity throughout the city. There is no future for payphones in Jacksonville, only the understanding, memories, and stories inferred from the phones remaining: where they are, why they are still there, who uses them, and how long before they are removed.
Ongoing, active project
July, 2022
