Architectural Monuments
In On Photography, Susan Sontag notes the importance of photography in relationship to historic sites- we’ve only been somewhere if we’ve photographed it. Everyone knows that any visit of the Eiffel Tower includes a photograph of the tower in its entirety and also a picture of the tourist in front of the monument. However, what if the tourist considered the buttons in the elevator or a fire hydrant more descriptive of the site than the typical postcard like viewpoint? 100 years from now, will we see the more modern elements now integral to pretty much any building, as just as important as the original site? The pictures in this series depict the functional elements incorporated into architecturally and/or historically significant buildings and sites. By documenting aspects of such spaces from a more archaeological standpoint, I am looking to understand why function and form do not always exist side by side.