Introduction
In the most basic sense, this project is about the 400 and 500 blocks of Keech Avenue, an examination of my immediate surroundings. Bordered on one side by Michigan Stadium and by Almendinger Park on the other, both entities play an important role in the identity of the neighborhood. We have literally thousands of visitors to our street every year.
My photographs depict this street and the people that inhabit it- both the ones that live here and the ones that visit. Yet their interest lies not in this specificity so much as the general familiarity they convey. Overall, the work tells the story of a community that is holding on to a familiar, yet vanishing way of life. It is about a group of people living quite literally in Middle America- geographically, economically, politically- at a time when our notions concerning what this means are quickly changing. Here, the passing of time is defined as much by the rituals we collectively participate in as by the months on a calendar. This work is a celebration of and possibly a eulogy to this way of life.