"I was looking for water and the effect its absence had on me,"
writes Canadian sound artist and photographer Mark Templeton about his
second photo book, Ocean Front Property. From this feeling of absence and
From geographical isolation a new body of work was born in two parts: A
book of color photographs, taken entirely in the province
landlocked Alberta ("where the nearest ocean is a thousand miles away"), and
an audio experience (a "soundtrack" of the book, included in a
digital download). Rooted in the same sense of nostalgia - the
imaginary comfort of warm blue water and escape from one's surroundings
familiar - these complementary sensory worlds form a kind of mirage:
a prism of surfaces, spaces and banal sound textures through which
we can glimpse fragments of an intangible fantasy, a psychic journey
circular from the desolate to the sublime. The photo book also contains a
8-page supplement, compiling selections from eight artists that Templeton has
invited to choose pairs of sounds and images, suggesting loops of
possible feedback and alternate playbacks between the eight audio tracks
and his photographs.
