Wish You Were Here...We Had Everything
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Wish you were here…we had everything, is an exploration of the ways in which we preserve our memories and ourselves, set against the backdrop of the family vacation. The images were taken on a series of trips to notable US vacation destinations but rather than focusing on the site or environment, the images primarily examine the subtle, often universal gestures of tourists engaged in the act of documentation. The prevalence of digital technology has made it possible to record and share every moment of our lives via the web. This not only creates a new relationship between our public and private selves but also challenges our concepts of privacy, voyeurism, intimacy and methods of interpersonal connection. Moments and thoughts once shared only in person, now exist solely as pixels of data, created for the very purpose of mass digital dissemination. Digital cameras and cell phones facilitate this documentation, simultaneously elevating and diluting the importance of our private photographs. This desire to preserve oneself is nothing new. The images and thoughts recorded online, are no less a part of the endless human quest to escape being forgotten. As time passes and contexts change, these seemingly meaningless photos take on new meaning. They are the remains of a life, tokens created to remind us both of what we had and what we lost.
Wish you were here…we had everything, is an exploration of the ways in which we preserve our memories and ourselves, set against the backdrop of the family vacation. The images were taken on a series of trips to notable US vacation destinations but rather than focusing on the site or environment, the images primarily examine the subtle, often universal gestures of tourists engaged in the act of documentation. The prevalence of digital technology has made it possible to record and share every moment of our lives via the web. This not only creates a new relationship between our public and private selves but also challenges our concepts of privacy, voyeurism, intimacy and methods of interpersonal connection. Moments and thoughts once shared only in person, now exist solely as pixels of data, created for the very purpose of mass digital dissemination. Digital cameras and cell phones facilitate this documentation, simultaneously elevating and diluting the importance of our private photographs. This desire to preserve oneself is nothing new. The images and thoughts recorded online, are no less a part of the endless human quest to escape being forgotten. As time passes and contexts change, these seemingly meaningless photos take on new meaning. They are the remains of a life, tokens created to remind us both of what we had and what we lost.
