“Journeys are the midwives of thought. Few places are more conducive to internal conversations than a moving plane, ship or train. There is an almost quaint correlation between what is in front of our eyes and the thoughts we are able to have in our heads: large thoughts at times requiring large views, new thoughts, new places.” The Art of Travel by Alain de Botton 2002
In Canada, a road trip offers the time space and silence for those conversations. 2000 kilometres with long stretches between communities or changes in geography. Altering assumptions along the way.
The 120 images in the collection The Border is Closed are from a 2019 road trip at which time we could not have imagined the borders being closed both to and within our country of Canada. as I look back Now it is those ‘large thoughts’ about our country I try to hold onto and these fragments are my way back.
The style of photography is deliberately deadpan. The ‘tunnel vision’ pattern suggests the nature of the views from the moving vehicle. images are in order from Fort St. John and Fort Nelson through the Northwest Territories and south from the border toward High Level Alberta.
