About the Exhibition
Phillip March Jones explores roadside memorials in his project, Points of Departure: Roadside Memorial Polaroids.
Artist Statement
Roadside memorials mark geographical points of departure in a landscape that is generally devoid of real human interaction or activity. They are almost always built in the no man’s land bordering our country roads, interstates and highways. We pass them at sixty miles an hour, sometimes glancing back, but are never afforded the time to actually see them. This project is about slowing down.
Polaroid was a natural choice. Early in its development, Polaroid film was widely used by police officers and other law enforcement, because it produced an unalterable instant photo, irrefutable evidence of a particular event. These photographs are evidence of something greater, an unspoken need to commemorate and celebrate our own fleeting lives and stories.
About the artist
Phillip March Jones is an artist, writer, and curator. He is the founder and creative director of Institute 193, a non-profit contemporary art space in Lexington, Kentucky, and director of the Souls Grown Deep Foundation in Atlanta, Georgia.
