My family moved to Burnham on Crouch (BoC) on the Essex coast when I was 14 (1989), my parents still live in the same house. Between 1991 and 1993 I commuted to college between BoC and Southend.
Ed Ruscha’s ‘performative’ use of photography has been very influential in this project. “Performative photography begins with an instruction or rule which is followed through with a performance.” (Costello and Iversen, 2010, p.15) Iverson further refines her definition of performative photography, stating that it should be reserved for “the work of those artists who are interested in displacing spontaneity, self-expression and immediacy by putting into play repetition and the inherently iterative character of the instruction.” (Costello and Iversen, 2010, p. 15) Therefore in keeping (possibly even, homage) with Ruscha, I re-enacted my journey to Southend. (It was the first time I had visited Southend since finishing college in 1993).
September 2017
