In the late 1960s, the American conceptual artist Robert Kinmont made a series of works called My Favorite Dirt Roads. The series consists of 17 B/W photographs of dirt roads all taken in the desert of California. Kinmont has stated that the dirt roads in the photographs all lead to places he had a personal relationship with and explored as a teenager – all close to his home.1

 

Almost five decades later, I have made a series of photographs borrowing Kinmont’s title and, to a certain extent, his concept. But instead of dirt roads the photographs in my series depict dirt piles taken at construction sites in Ørestad, Copenhagen – close to my home. Compared to Kinmont’s project my series is less optimistic, and the subject is almost the inverse of his: an obstacle of dirt in the center of the image often blocking any further exploration.

 

1. A Conversation between Robert Kinmont and Aoife Rosenmyer, Robert Kinmont, Mousse Publishing 2013.