11.15.09 - The "On The Road" Series

Since coming to college, I have read the novel "On The Road" by Jack Kerouac around 15 times.  I've always been able to relate to it and I have also wanted to find a way to turn it into a photo project.  Each of these photos is inspired by an excerpt from the novel.  Here are a few samples from the project as well as the artist statement.  Enjoy!
-eric

Through the evolution of modern culture, few things remain the same.  Thoureau’s “Walden” would be much different if he we're to have had a Blackberry chiming a new email as he gazed out over the pond.  To Hemingway, the Festival of Pamplona in San Fermin would have looked much different if CNN, BBC, FOX NEWS and Reuters had sent camera crews and reporters, which would have surely translated into a much different version of “The Sun Also Rises”.  Can you picture Walt Whitman typing away on a MacBook, checking out last weeks episode of The Office as he churned out “Song of Myself?  But even with all of the changes, great literature finds a way to resonate with every generation.  There is no better example than Jack Kerouac.

This project is simple.  Kerouac's words from his breakthrough novel “On The Road” ring as true as they did the days he spent frantically typing them on that legendary 120-foot-long scroll.  The road is the all-encompassing analogy in American society.  Everyone has experiences on their own road, whether they be good or bad.  The photos in this piece draw direct inspiration from Kerouac's writing, hoping to show modern day travellers reliving the situations that Kerouac lived in those years going “mad” on the road.

Personally, there has never been a piece of written work that has inspired me more than “On The Road”.  It is one of those rare pieces of literature in which you can truly feel what the author is experiencing.  My hope for this project is that it can give another look into the words of Kerouac, hopefully enriching the experience of his book for all those who see it.