PATHWAY PORTAL
Site-Specific Photography Installation | 2023
What if your daily route presented you with a portal that could transport you to a land far away?
As an experiment with the ways we experience photography, this project took the form of a site-specific installation presented in Gurugram, India near Suri’s home. The glowing frames showed photographs of landmarks, shot in New York. The structure leverages existing elements within landscape architecture to create an intervention prompting the viewer to interact with the ephemera presented.
This experiment provided an opportunity to observe how people interact with and react to photography at this scale.
Viewers played into the idea of the photo as a portal, while expressing feelings of familiarity, confusion, wonder, and appreciation as they walked around the frames and the space. They spoke of their experiences in New York, of similar photographs they’ve seen or taken, and the significance of the monuments being presented.
CURRENT VIEWS
December 2022 – January 2023
When I go back home, the first thing I do is take my dog for a walk, as a way to reacquaint myself with the area [after a significant period of time]. I have taken countless walks in the neighborhood where my family and I have lived for over ten years now. It is a part of everyone’s daily routine to walk the periphery around the houses, surrounded by trees and other greenery.
December 2022 – January 2023
When I go back home, the first thing I do is take my dog for a walk, as a way to reacquaint myself with the area [after a significant period of time]. I have taken countless walks in the neighborhood where my family and I have lived for over ten years now. It is a part of everyone’s daily routine to walk the periphery around the houses, surrounded by trees and other greenery.
Location Scouting
At night, the lighting in the neighborhood is as bright as a torch in a forest, accenting only a few trees around the houses, making the area feel calm and quiet. Additionally, poeple put up lights to decorate their homes during festive seasons. These create a subtle cove-like effect due to the way the strip lights are placed along the contours of the houses.
These urban landscape elements combined with thoughts on ephemerality, surrealism, and portals led to the design of the installation.
These urban landscape elements combined with thoughts on ephemerality, surrealism, and portals led to the design of the installation.
Production Process
The width of the frames was as wide as the pathway they would sit on approximately 4ft wide, to act as an intervention in the space. We produced them to be 6ft tall to encapsulate the viewer and create the illusion of it being a space they could physically enter.
The photographs were printed on vinyl and stretched across the double-walled frames, which were created with wood and covered with fabric. The LED strip lights, the same ones used around the exterior of the houses, were attached to the edge of the photographs, facing outwards to create the glowing effect. All the materials used in this project were repurposed from a garment production factory.
The photographs were printed on vinyl and stretched across the double-walled frames, which were created with wood and covered with fabric. The LED strip lights, the same ones used around the exterior of the houses, were attached to the edge of the photographs, facing outwards to create the glowing effect. All the materials used in this project were repurposed from a garment production factory.
Viewers interacting with the installation | January 2023
This installation was created in Gurugram, India. Designed and produced within one week, in collaboration with Yogesh Suri.
All photographs shot by Shaina Suri.