William Lamson

Fredonia, Arizona (from the series “Me In America”) © William LamsonPlains, Kansas (from the series “Me In America”) © William Lamson While drafting a statement the other day for a new project that I’m working on I referenced the work of William Lamson. Lamson’s Me In America (2004-2006) is a rather humorous depiction of man and nature, as the artist places himself into the landscape and creates self-portraits. By positioning himself on, sometimes in, and occasionally playfully obscured by elements of the landscape, Lamson hopes to engage in a performance of creative play while also “emphasizing the physicality of his body and its relationship to the space.” From his statement:

In September of 2004, while I was driving around America working on a project called Encounter, I began photographing myself in the landscape as a means of activating the photographic process when no other subjects presented themselves. This artistic exercise opened the door to a new way of making work that completely changed my photographic practice. I went from being an observer, trained by my interest in the American landscape photographers of the last half century, to a photographic collaborator, physically engaging with the landscape as a form of creative play. The series consists of images in which I am either performing an activity dictated in part by the location, or attempting to become part of the scene by assuming an inanimate form. In both cases, I conceal my face to emphasize the physicality of my body and its relationship to the landscape. Although this project began as an exercise, the playfulness, experimentation and sense of humor that emerged from it has come to represent the new way that I approach my work.

Between 2003 and 2005, I spent three and half months driving around America, searching for subjects that inspire me with wonder. This project is about the experience of first sight, the moment of visual discovery when we encounter something extraordinary. Essential to this encounter is the gap between what we see in a photograph and what we know about it. The result is a definitive unknowable: a subject that is unambiguous and understandable but the details and context of which remain a mystery to the viewer, and in some cases even to me. I hope that these photographs communicate the possibility of making photographs that both represent actual events but also contain their own fictional histories.