Early on during the portfolio walkthrough at the National SPE Conference last month, I stopped at Marc Newton’s table and spent quite a while looking. Beautiful prints from his two projects, particularly The Extended Frontier, landscapes from the perspective of highways in America, held my attention. The series’ message that we have created boundaries and barriers that keep us from experiencing natural spaces is simple, yet the images felt more complex. Paired with my 900-mile road trip to the conference in New Orleans, the images had me thinking about the diversity of nature in the US and how inaccessible it can feel.
From the artist’s statement: This series of photographs is a product of my collective portrayal of culture and landscape. Taken from the perspective of highways all over the United States, the images represent glimpses of otherness; otherwise a fleeting moment during travel, however framed and composed as I imagined the landscape while I drive past.
“The Extended Frontier” examines the perspective one has from the road: the perceptions about a space that can originate from simply passing through, as well as its expectations based on a previous understanding of the space. The barriers that traverse the landscape become a cultural apparatus which stand between us and the understanding of our environment.
From “The Extended Frontier”
Visit artist's site: marcnewtonphotography.com
Posted April 13th, 2015
