Charlie Ward

Being Where We Are From
I have grown up in the Mid-West, a place known for its many lakes, giant balls of twine and large blue oxen memorialized in plaster and erected roadside near small motels and gas stations. While I drive back and forth between Iowa, Wisconsin and Minnesota, there are things that fill the space between the metropolis and the large monuments of our culture. These photos are highlighting the vacancy of these non-monumental landscapes and objects, which can be found in the distance between our cities and tourist destinations. This work is a closer look at the more silent and curious moments in this region.

There have been many photographers who have searched for the beauty in mundane and commonplace imagery in America. While my work does draw from mundane subject matter, these photos are less of an attempt to find the beauty in it and more of a search for the substance and the something within all of this nothingness that surrounds us.