Wish you were here… is a photographic small installation work that explores pictorialism through a series of ten printed images, each containing a darker message within them.
It comprises ten views from the Derbyshire Peak District National Park and surrounding area, presented as seven physical postcards (including markings on the back for a stamp and personal message). The postcards are housed in a retail display stand so that the viewer can engage fully in the once-common holiday experience of selecting postcards to send back home.
The images mimic the aesthetics of Britain’s colour postcard era from the 70s and 80’s, with ‘Greetings from…’ descriptors giving the holiday location, twee sunsets and composites. Colours are bright and vibrant, emulating the era of Fuji Velvia film and medium format cameras, once prominent in landscape photography.
The overall effect is to replicate the 1960s-1990s experience of selecting postcards to send to show people that you miss them and are having a wonderful holiday.
It is only after reading the back of the postcard that the reader is presented with a very different viewpoint. Each scene was photographed at the exact spot of a fatal road traffic accident. Some views will be of the very last thing the person saw. All of them are undoubtedly places of great sadness to friends and relatives – in stark contrast to their oft-celebrated natural beauty.
The picture postcard then becomes a visual memorial, akin to flowers wrapped in cellophane taped to lampposts. A shrine. A crime-scene record. We may question why we selected a particular postcard from the display when we know what happened there.
In memory of all those that have died on the roads of this green and pleasant land.
