One of the biggest struggles as a maker, regardless of what it is that you’re making, can be finding meaning in what you make. Whether you’re a painter, or a sculptor, or a writer, or a photographer, finding meaning in a particular project is often one of the obstacles that prevents us from starting, or can be one of the challenges to overcome in order to finish. As someone who spends a great deal of time talking to creative people, I often hear about projects at the poles, either early in the planning stages, or after the work has been completed, but rarely in the middle — which can be a challenge to talk about because there are often themes and ideas that haven’t quite come together yet. Oli Kellett is a street photographer from the UK who’s 18 months into a multi year project that brings him to America several times a year to photograph cities and the people who inhabit them.
At its core, the project is about crossroads, but as you’ll hear in this conversation, Oli is still wrestling with the literal representation — those few moments before the light has changed that leave us alone with our thoughts — to the symbolism and myth of the crossroads that draws a line from the ancient Greeks to a young guitar player from Mississippi who made a deal with the devil just outside Memphis.
LINKS
PDN Photo Annual
CONNECT WITH OLI
Website: https://www.olikellett.com
Instagram: @Oli_Kellett
MUSIC
Please Listen Carefully
(Jahzzar) / CC BY-SA 4.0
