...to the end of paradise island
A series of twenty-two walks made by rail from Queens to the towns of Long Island between 2014 and 2016. The project moves eastward, town by town, until the island runs out.
Statement
In 2014, after nearly five years living in New York, I became fascinated with Long Island. For months I would imagine the shape and contours of the landscape, and wondered whether the experience of walking would reveal a different dimension than the image created through our culture. On Sunday, June 14th, 2014, I boarded the LIRR at the Woodside station on my way to Port Washington for my first walk.
Over the course of twenty-two walks in two years, I gradually made my way east along the coast, building a narrative around the suburban commute. I would often imagine escaping Queens for a quiet existence in Nassau County — one of America's oldest and strangest suburbs. My journeys to Long Island were escapes from the pressures of corporate life and the density of the city.
As I pushed further east, an inevitability began to approach. I would eventually reach the end of the island and the end of the narrative I had constructed about a potential life there. On November 17th, 2016, I arrived in Montauk for one final weekend of walks. The country and the world had changed in just a few short weeks. The paradise I'd been constructing had taken me, town by town, to the edge of the island, where the land gives way to the Atlantic and whatever comes next.
I’m a photographer based in Minneapolis working on long-duration projects centered on walking, cities, and public space. This newsletter shares periodic dispatches from that work, along with selected images and related references. Selected work also appears on Instagram.