Robert Raczka

Sequences, 2007

Each sequence consists of 33-40 photographs, hung in a row with black metal track along the top and bottom. Each sequence was shot on a 1-2 mile walk. In viewing them, the viewer walks along the length of the piece, echoing my walk while also creating an experience that resembles a motion picture-one moves through space, there are a mix of close-ups and wider shots, and often we see things off in the distance that appear larger in subsequent shots.

Night seems to me the time at which the commercial landscape, which is the emphasis of the piece, can be seen in its most characteristic, illuminated form. In addition to the beckoning lights, signs, stores, and merchandise, I also included elements of nature and of public space to create a larger context around the commercial environment. My intention is to capture a sense of the built environment as it really is, including elements of history, commerce, and nature, and to make the familiar strange and--in unexpected ways--beautiful.

Pittsburgh, November 21, 2007, 33 digital C-prints with metal track, 21" x 36'8"

Late winter landscape, Meadville, Pennsylvania, March 13-15, 2007, parts I-III , 2007