Dialed, photographic installation (subject's shoes, photographic emulsion, spray paint, polyurethane, used utility pole, found electrical line, antique glass insulator, steel), variable dimensions with 12’ pole, 2016.
In many ways my first true art class wasn’t held in a classroom studio, but on a concrete slab in my driveway. Skateboarding taught me independence from an early age. It drove me to get my first job to foot the bill for shoes and boards. I bought my first real camera ten years ago largely to shoot skating, but soon spent most of the time pointing my lens elsewhere. Over the past year, I have made a concerted effort to reach out to the Twin Cities skate scene and get back into skate photography.
Using a paintable photographic emulsion and 35mm negatives, I printed portraits of skaters on the shoes they are wearing next to somewhere or something they would want to skate. The skaters who gave me their shoes are printed as a standard portrait on their non-dominant foot (“regular” is left and “goofy” is right). Their dominant sole contains an image taken by the subject, offering some perspective on how they view the built environment. The latter images are harder to read over some tread textures, but become clearer on parts of well-worn soles. In a way, the longer the skater has worn them, the more these shoes reflect their experiences in them. Skaters have a knack for trying to skate on anything and are reminded of it in every bench, handrail, or staircase they see. In a similar act of defying intended use, these photos cling like a faded memory to a surface that would all but wear away in ten steps.
A year ago, I hadn’t met any of these people and I found that installing the shoes in a familiar “frame” on a phone line best represents the unseen power of connectivity. Where a piece of wire once brought the world together with a phone call, now a piece of wood with wheels can foster a strong sense of community.
