\\ terre
<aside> <img src="/icons/mobile_gray.svg" alt="/icons/mobile_gray.svg" width="40px" /> Concept: This project started in 2021. I have always been curious and sad about the dead animals that are killed by automobiles and then left to decompose on the road, and given the accurate name of roadkill. The invisibility of the animals, as well as the offhand violence implicit in the word roadkill, has always disturbed me. At various points over the years, I thought about taking pictures of these animals, but it felt like it was a weird and gross idea. I was diagnosed with cancer for the first time in fall 2021, at a time when I was already struggling emotionally and mentally, and dealing with a lot of heavy issues. I was already trying to explore how to grieve and mourn. At the time, California was in a long-term drought, and Lake Casitas, which I passed by as I drove the 150 through the mountains from Ojai to Santa Barbara and back several times a week, was at a record low. Additionally, the mountains were unrecovered from the Thomas Fire of 2015. Subsequently, there came a point when every day that I drove the 150 there was at least one, if not several, new animals that were dead on the road, as they foraged nearer and nearer to the lake seeking water. At one point, there were three deer in various states of decomposition. After the third one, I decided to get out of my car and take pictures of the newest one. It was a strangely scary barrier for me to cross - from being a body in a car to a body on the road. I became vulnerable and highly aware in ways I had not expected. From that moment, this project began. Here, I am retroactively and progressively documenting the process of the evolution of the project.
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Deer, highway 150, September 16, 2024.
Jean Rouch - filmmaker/documentarist
https://www.der.org/resources/filmmaker-bios/jean-rouch/