This series began as a fascination with the intersection between humans and the built environment. I wanted to capture the memories of a particular space and the unconscious drawings made by life. These photographs were taken in a racquetball court in Indiana.
The scuffs and marks on the walls tell us something of what happened in this room. Without human interaction this room is not a racquetball court. Once a game was played in this space, both the game and the space changed. Intention becomes actualized. The space comes closer to what it was meant to be and the games played adapt to the idiosyncrasies of this particular court. This court is smaller than regulation courts. Because of this, the games played inside are more personal. Each player must be closer to the other than is normally necessary. This causes rackets to collide with walls and shoes to abrade them in ways that would otherwise be avoidable. Racket tape is left behind, and scuffs along the bottom of the walls tell stories of the battles won and contests lost inside the room. Each leaves patterns behind that when focused upon give beauty to the room that is otherwise missing.
Without this odd shaped room in need of a coat of paint we would never know the stories had existed. As it is, we don’t get to know the stories. But it is enough to know that they happened and to experience the beauty left behind when they are gone.
Since these photographs were taken, I have slowly been collecting instances of the effects we have on our environment. Many of these can be found using the #unconsciousmarksoflife on Instagram.
