SOUVENIRS
Amusement parks are temporal zones where familiarity and routine succumb to wonder and play. Brightly painted characters and lurid carnival attraction are not meant to last forever. Over time the colorful creatures become mysterious and fragmented ruins. Transcending merriment they stand as markers of time and lost pleasure.
In photographing these creatures, boundaries of linear time dissolve. I revisit childhood pleasures, and face unsettling thoughts of old age. The seashore of my youth was a giant toy box, dumped on its side. Many of the characters share my birth date. Their weathered beauty is haunting yet reassuring.
Sepia Toned, Silver Gelatin Photographs
2003