The Wall

For almost ten summers I photographed a long beach wall in Wellfleet, Massachusetts. The wall changed year to year depending on the weather, the winter, and the maintenance (or lack of it). I didn't really understand what I was attracted to, other than those changes, or why I was photographing them. But as the impetus to photograph the wall persisted, I realized that what I was seeing were visual projections and representations of what was on my mind at the time, a Rorschach––thus some of the titles––and that I needed to practice trusting my unconscious to direct where I pointed the camera. In other words, to hone my process of seeing.

Any wall is a barrier, evidence of a conflict, its purpose always local and intransigent. This wall was built to both keep back the sea and protect the fragile shore dunes. But like any metaphor, meaning, and thus the “meaning” of these photos, can expand, and after awhile you will find your own titles and meaning and metaphor.