Eliot Dudik: Road Ends in Water

Road Ends in Water

Photographs by Eliot Dudik
Selected by Andy Adams

The coast of South Carolina holds a very special place in my heart.  Its rich history and diverse cultural heritage lends the already breathtaking landscape a mystifying spirit.  Capturing this phantasm on film proved to be extraordinarily difficult.  Repeatedly, my photographic art failed to express my emotional attachment.  However, during a two year period, traveling from Charleston to Savannah, Georgia, twice a week, I began an exploration of every dirt road, every river or creek, every obscure swamp or marsh I could find.  Publication of Road Ends in Water, my first monograph is the culmination of a photographic, and undeniably, personal quest.  I searched for the essence within the landscape that I could vividly feel but eluded my film.  What I sought was to be found in the spirit of the people I met, and they in turn contributed to the recording of the energetic landscape.  As the project began solidifying, I realized its intention was to engender an acute awareness to the soul of the Lowcountry.  Like all beautifully peaceful places on Earth, the Lowcountry is in constant danger of modernized corruption.  Road Ends in Water preserves, and exemplifies an alternative to the head-spinning life of the twenty-first century.  Seven years ago, I moved to the Charleston, South Carolina Lowcountry, and have since decided, this is home.

— Eliot Dudik, 2010

Learn more about Eliot Dudik's work on his website at http://EliotDudik.com.

Andy Adams is the Editor/Publisher of FlakPhoto.com, a contemporary photography website that celebrates the culture of image-making by promoting the discovery of artists from around the world. An online art space + photography publication, the site provides opportunities for a global community of artists and photo organizations to share new series work, book projects, and gallery exhibitions with a web-based photography audience. Adams’ association with Magenta began as a panel discussion participant at the inaugural Flash Forward Festival and continues with his selection of this issue’s artist portfolios. More about him at AndyAdamsPhoto.com.