The morning walk is my ritual, my dog Leeloo makes sure of that. Every morning, rain, hail or shine we set off on a new adventure walking the streets of our Queanbeyan neighbourhood. There is no agenda, no itinerary, no set path, we just head out the door and walk. Me guiding Leeloo and Leeloo guiding me.
This series of images was photographed in the winter of 2015. Each photograph taken on one of our early morning walks. The walks started out as exercise but quickly become much more. As a human being in a constructed urban environment I automatically react to stimuli in the anticipated way – I walk on the footpath, I walk around orange hazard tape and I obey signs and signals. Leeloo is a creature in and of the moment. She is unbound by the learned impositions of the city and free to investigate the human world as a dog. Her lack of regard for the meaning of objects reawakened my sense of discovery.
Through this body of work and with the help of Leeloo I have embraced that I am a dériver (a drifter) and a psychogeographer. That is, I walk with an exploratory playfulness to encounter new and authentic experiences. These photographs are the visual culmination of my drifts from which I have gained a new awareness of the urban landscape in which I live. I also feel a newfound connection to my community and although the series is void of people the images reveal the unspoken histories and experiences of those living here.
Walking The Dog (1-30) 820 x 570 mm.
Pigment prints on archival cotton rag paper.
Limited edition prints available framed or unmounted. Please contact ricky@rickylloyd.com for more information.