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The Park Kaitlin Spark
The Park is a series of observational images of the cultivated nature and scenery from within a childhood urban park. Unlike the days of my childhood, where the park was a source of safe adventure and play, as an adult I use the place as a meditative space, to unwind and contemplate my own growth and emotions. Returning as an adult has allowed me to appreciate this ‘natural’ environment, drawing my attention to the design and cultivation of the park but also to the view back out towards the society beyond the park’s edge, viewed at arm’s length from relative safety. While creating these images I stuck to a rule of pointing the camera to the outside of the park rather than looking in— to focus on the less tended (or manicured) textures of the plants, trees, shrubs, reeds and grasses that frame this space. This more wild growth brought to mind the complexity of my own emotions as multiple feelings and thoughts entangle themselves, like overgrown weeds in the landscape of my mind.
