Christopher Garland

It’s (Not) a Sign#

Artist’s Statement#

Since moving to Savannah in 2017, I have walked around and around taking photos at night. It’s (Not) a Sign is an image captured on one of the city’s main arteries, Abercorn Street. I am drawn to places where tourists aren’t, and I love recording these kinds of modern ruins (empty banks, broken signs, empty homes). Layers of time are revealed in these spaces and objects.

Surveillance#

Artist’s Statement#

The parts of the city I like to photograph the most are where the edges of “bad” Savannah rub up against ongoing gentrification. This photo was taken about thirty feet from where unhoused people had constructed makeshift accommodations behind an overflowing roll-off dumpster. The people sleeping there experience physical surveillance (by the police, real estate developers, and housed locals) and this “new” technology.

About the Artist#

Born and raised in New Zealand, Christopher Garland now teaches in the Department of English at Georgia Southern University. His writing has appeared in Inside Higher Ed, the Journal of Social and Economic Studies, NYLON, the New Zealand Herald, and New Centennial Review.