There has long been a tradition of on-the-road photography focusing on the American landscape and people. In this series of photographs, I am working in a similar vein, photographing vernacular topographies and those who occupy them. I have narrowed down this broad subject matter by structuring my approach around a single, commonplace name along with the use of metaphor. The project developed out of my research on the naming of places across the United States and, more importantly, the frequency with which certain names appear on the map. There are nearly fifty Greenvilles, close to thirty Franklins, and a score of Fairviews, and Oxfords. Each of these settlements vary in size and location: some are sparse villages with populations under one-hundred, while others are expansive cities home to tens of thousands. However, despite their differences, each of these places have this one common identifier: their name.
    After careful consideration, I selected the name Fairview to become the focus of this project with the intention of traveling to seven or more different locations by this name, in as many states. The name is especially pertinent for a study of the American landscape and people because it is taken directly from the landscape itself. The second part of the name, view, is even indicative of photography and other forms of image-making. The commonplace of the name is important to the work because that which is 'common' is often average, and what is average is arguably the best representation of the whole. The suggestion of natural beauty present in "Fairview" should also be noted, for it is the representation of such idealized landscapes that have often been criticized by modern landscape photographers. While I am not trying to debunk the beauty of these locations, I do approach them with some skepticism. As expected, I found examples of both squalor and the picturesque in each state; however, what was most interesting were all of the peculiar in-betweens. One woman I spoke to in Fairview, Tennessee perhaps put it best, "It's not a good view. It's not a bad view. It's a fair view."

Nathaniel Russell