The Hitcher: Chris Coekin

Over the Christmas break I looked at artist Chris Coekin and his book called 'The Hitcher' which documents his experiences in hitch hiking around the UK. I look at this book as it is another example of how as artist works themselves into the series.

Included in the book, alongside the photographs, are clipping and excerpts from notes he has made along the way, with quotes from people who have picked him up. This really adds an element of personality and character to the book, and works very well. Coekin has picked out key moments from his journey and has chosen to photograph them, and when compiled into a book it is clear that this is a personal project, but is still interesting.. This is something that is tricky to do, as the viewer does not want to be bombarded with personal snapshots - the project needs to be interesting! Coekin's style has been useful to look at, and has helped me with how I plan to proceed.

Collection Idea 1 - SIGNS!

I have begun to play with ideas for presenting my images as a set, with focus on the chequered road signs I have come across.

I think this works very well as a grid. Often, with Tabuchi's work for example, grids can be overwhelming and look messy, but I do not feel that this is the case with my work. The images match, but are subtly different also which is interesting. I especially like the way the cheques all work together and are visually striking; the B&W in this case is definitely the best thing for these images - the high contrast adds to the impact the images have.