Growing up in rural “New England” USA, in the 1970s, I was always fascinated by images of cities I saw in the newspaper or on television. Every building was so different, and there were so many people. I’m sure many would have traded for my life of quiet reading and bicycling alone in the woods, but there was a dream, that with so many people, there might be a few more like me. In rural New England, there were zero.

As I moved through elementary school, and university, I took a deep interest in building and landscape architecture, and how it affected the people inhabiting spaces. When I was finally able to start spending time in New York City, during many college-age visits in the ‘80s, I was thrilled. There were cool buildings in every direction, Times Square was seedy, and there were freaks everywhere. I maybe should have moved there, but I stayed in school upstate.

Later I visited Boston, Montréal, Los Angeles, San Fransisco, Dallas, Detroit, Denver, Lima, Iquitos, Geneva, Vienna, Vancouver, Toronto, Mexico City, Sydney, Queenstown, Christchurch, Copenhagen, Prague, Paris, and more. So many cities, so many people. Today we might say, “so many differences,” but then I would have said, “so much variety.” People form societies, societies make choices, and choices make culture.

Each of these cities, each of these cultures, transformed my perspective of the world. They informed me of the options, of the possibilities, of the range available. Each visit generated stacks of memories, the collection of memories fueled my dreams for visiting future cities, and dream-memory feedback loop provided opportunities to reflect on my own choices, my own possibilities, my own range.

9616, the initial quad in the collection, exemplifies the transformational power of cities, architecture, landscapes, and freaks of all stripes. May we all discover our possibilities, and find our own range.

Gallery sheet: https://ln5.sync.com/dl/a6e030d10#2vd4h9vi-9jtym3na-95qgbw34-vsbytawn