The Vernacular                                                                                      

I use a small pocket camera to document the objects and places I encounter each day.  I am creating a photographic inventory, a daily visual journal of culture at work.

Since April 2010, I have accumulated over 1500 images and have at minimum, one image for each day of the year.  The images are simply a record of what I saw – what anyone could have seen.  All objects and subjects in these photographs are exactly as I saw them and as I found them.

Although the images can be viewed individually, their strength lies in viewing them as a whole.  Experiencing the images collectively begins to create a kind of visual language – the beauty, the ugliness, even the absurdity of daily life begins to emerge in patterns.  Viewing these photographs as a series, both the specific place and its context in the broader culture become clear.

I termed this project “The Vernacular”.  The word vernacular shows 15 definitions. It is an interesting word in that it functions both as an adjective;

     ver·nac·u·lar [ver-nak-yuh-ler]–adj.  “using plain, everyday, ordinary language”.

and as a noun;

     ver·nac·u·lar [ver-nak-yuh-ler]–n.  “the native speech or language of a place”. 

In this project I have used the plain, the everyday, and the ordinary to document, record, and re-experience the native speech and language of a place – in images, rather than in words.