Motorway Postcards
Set of 10 printed postcards, 2010
This project involved the creation of a set of postcards of the signage from the M1 motorway. The project uses the M1 motorway as a device for viewing the landscape of England with the landscape becoming an event in automotive space. A series of journeys were undertaken and black and white photographs taken of the signage along the roadside, which were hand coloured with inks and made into postcards.
Referencing early Victorian postcards, the unreal feel of the hand coloured images reflects the hyper-real motorway environment.
The works use the antiquated conventions of the tourist postcard – a memento of a particular place- to depict the generic environment of the motorway. With the focus on the signage, the image of the sign for a place is made to stand-in for the actual experience of that place.
As well as the postcards the project has produced an ongoing series of hand coloured photographic works each consisting of 4 images representing each junction along the M1 motorway.
This project was commissioned by re-place site-specific art in Derbyshire, and has been exhibited at Vane, Newcastle upon Tyne & is currently displayed at Tibshelf Services on the M1. Click here for press release.
