Tell us about your approach to photography. How it all started? What are your memories of your first shots? How did your research evolve with respect to those early days?
Garrett Grove (GG): Photography started for me when I was 20 and began climbing and skiing in the mountains. I used it as a simple way to document the natural beauty that I saw in front of me. All of my first photographs are mixed together with vivid memories of adventures in the mountains. All of the research in my early days revolved around the areas I would be traveling to, so I spent a considerable amount of time studying maps, reading prior reports, looking at weather and making a plan from there. I didn't put too much energy into researching photography. It wasn't until I entered my 30's that I began studying and researching the history of photography and paying attention to my contemporaries.
© Garrett Grove from the series 'Journey to the Interior'
Tell us about your educational path. You studied 'Humanities & Social Sciences', how this still affect your interests and motivation.
GG: I graduated with a generalized degree that fell under the umbrella of 'Humanities & Social Sciences'. My favorite courses were English literature, anthropology and therapeutic recreation. I finished in 2005 and I have to say that I have not spent too much time thinking about what I learned during my undergraduate degree. In my early 20's school did not take a big priority, I was unfocused and could not figure out how to find a place in academics. I was more focused on being outside and pushing myself in that world, which is still a large part of me.
You have recently completed an MFA degree at University of Hartford. What were the courses that you were passionate about and which have remained meaningful for you? Any professor or teacher that has allowed you to better understand your work?
GG: Gaining an MFA through the University of Hartford was a pivotal turning point in how I think about and approach photography. It was the first time I had ever spent with a group of committed artists who were dedicated to making new work and studying the medium. For me, Jorg Colberg's three photobook classes served as a crash course in learning about photography's most influential practitioners while also teaching me how to critically examine a photobook.
Robert Lyons, the program director at the University of Hartford, was my advisor during the first year of school. His ability to see the content of a photograph and tell whether or not it was successful pushed me to advance my work more than anything else.
© Garrett Grove from the series 'Journey to the Interior'
What do you think about photography in the era of digital and social networking?
GG: I have no problem with digital photography. I think social networking is taking away the patience that is necessary for understanding and making good work.
About your work now. How would you described your personal research in general?
GG: Most of my research comes from reading non-fiction novels or essays about an area or subject that I find interest in. Non-fiction has a way of heightening my imagination more the fiction does. I also find that a significant amount of research comes in the form of reading various news outlets and popular culture headlines. The current state of our culture gets into my head and then I take that out into the field and let it influence how I see.
Tell us about your project 'Journey to the Interior'
GG: 'Journey to the Interior' was made during the years leading up to, and following, the 2016 Presidential election. A particularly unnerving time for our country and a coming out moment for a new political reality. The project focuses on themes of identity, anxiety and the current state of the American Dream, such as it was in the rural communities I lived in and traveled through while working on this body of work. It was a time of personal disruption and self-examination, and as a result the project became equal parts sociology and autobiography, reflecting my own psyche as much as it does that of the people and places I encountered while on the road. I went into these places with the intention of understanding something apart from myself, and in the process, created a picture of America that mirrored my own confusion of navigating a cultural identity that time is moving past.
© Garrett Grove from the series 'Journey to the Interior'
© Garrett Grove from the series 'Journey to the Interior'
There is something of the dream that has fallen on this inner journey. Decadence, abandonment, misunderstanding but also the memory of something pristine, infinite. A tension in which everything is suspended...
GG: Yes, that is the tension I lived in for a few years while making this, it was quite unpleasant. The tension centers around the cultural and political direction our country is headed and the neglect that this inflicts on our people and the natural environment that we depend on. Frankly, in the name of economic progress it seems like we are disregarding ourselves and our landscape. It is like owning a home but never spending the time that is needed to clean and maintain it, the owner just keeps taking things from it until the house falls apart.
© Garrett Grove from the series 'Journey to the Interior'
© Garrett Grove from the series 'Journey to the Interior'
© Garrett Grove from the series 'Journey to the Interior'
Is there any contemporary artist or photographer, even if young and emerging, that influenced you in some way?
During that time I was taking in a lot of new work, there was not one single artist that influenced me more than another. My biggest photographic influences came from historical photobooks about the states that I was spending time photographing in (Washington, Oregon, Nevada and Idaho). Many of the photographs were taken by unknown photographers, I found the images intoxicating.
© Garrett Grove from the series 'Journey to the Interior'
© Garrett Grove from the series 'Journey to the Interior'
© Garrett Grove from the series 'Journey to the Interior'
Three books (not only photography) that you recommend?
GG: 'The Brothers K' by David James Duncan, 'Beyond the 100th Meridian' by Wallace Stegner, and 'Kinsey Photographer. Two Volumes. A Half Century of Negatives' by Darius and Tabitha May Kinsey.
Is there any show you’ve seen recently that you find inspiring?
GG: It isn't photography related, but I saw Yo La Tengo play in Los Angeles last month and their commitment, humility and musical talent was very inspiring. Also, Brassaï's photos at the MOCA are incredible.
Projects that you are working on now and plans for the future?
GG: I have started working on a project that revolves around America's Western shoreline, going from Mexico to Canada. I cannot pinpoint exactly what it is about just yet but I am very curious to explore it more. Otherwise I am working on a book dummy for Journey to the Interior and trying to get the work out there.
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