Garrett Grove
Errors of Possession

Extended through June 14, 2020

Ampersand is pleased to present Errors of Possession, an exhibition of photographs by Garrett Grove. The images were made, as the artist notes, in the farming and logging towns of Washington and Oregon during the years leading up to and following the 2016 presidential election. They explore the emotional and physical landscapes of the rural Pacific Northwest during a time of heightened anxiety and national change. Images of wilderness, farmland, human structures and working people are interwoven within a story that is fictional but familiar, with collapsed timelines and transposable locations. The work looks at the fabled narrative of the Western frontier and our seemingly endless desire for hope and progress when the American Dream, such as we have known it, has all but collapsed. As a photobook, published this past fall by Trespasser Books, Errors of Possession offers an ambiguous look into the lives of blue collar Americans and the ways in which agriculture, industry and our quest for prosperity have profoundly altered the country. The people in Grove's photographs have an undefined relationship to the vast landscapes, forests and waterways that serve as backdrops. Lonely building facades and empty streets might signify both peace and solitude or the exploitation of rural America, depending on your perspective. In his exhibition, edited to a selection of seventeen photographs, people are further isolated from both nature and fellow human beings. A couple sits behind the window of a red pickup truck, cord wood stacked in the back. A logger stands alone, seemingly reverent before a towering wall of hewn timber. A man kneels on a poached firewood round, head askance, smoking a bowl. With a subtle hand, Grove reminds us that the livelihood of any regional community is ultimately tied to the specific nature of its environment, in this case the forest. What does it provide and how much will we take? Will it be nurtured or destroyed?  Celebrated or neglected? A mother and daughter stand with their backs toward us, hair aglow with ambient sunlight. The photograph provides no answer — but perhaps it suggests hope.

Garrett Grove lives and works in Whatcom County, Washington. He received his MFA in photography from the University of Hartford (2017) and a BA from Western Washington University (2005).  Grove's photographs have been exhibited and published nationally and internationally, most recently at the Robert Capa Contemporary Photo Center in Budapest, Hungary and the Aperture gallery in New York City, New York.  He is the recipient of the European Parallel Platform initiative and is a selected artist for the 2019 Feature Shoot Emerging Photography Awards.

Krystal & Daughter, 2019
Pigment print on baryta rag archival paper
Various dimensions

Okanogan Complex, 2015
Pigment print on baryta rag archival paper
Various dimensions

Rainbow Creek, 2016
Pigment print on baryta rag archival paper
Various dimensions

Paisley Hall, 2016
Pigment print on baryta rag archival paper
Various dimensions

Honeycrisp, 2016
Pigment print on baryta rag archival paper
Various dimensions

Chelan Fruit, 2015
Pigment print on baryta rag archival paper
Various dimensions

Wellington Memorial, 2016
Pigment print on baryta rag archival paper
Various dimensions

La Push, 2016
Pigment print on baryta rag archival paper
Various dimensions

Main Street, 2016
Pigment print on baryta rag archival paper
Various dimensions

Jack’s Cowboy Hat, 2016
Pigment print on baryta rag archival paper
Various dimensions

Skykomish Remodel, 2016
Pigment print on baryta rag archival paper
Various dimensions

Palouse Empire, 2016
Pigment print on baryta rag archival paper
Various dimensions

Eagle Falls, 2016
Pigment print on baryta rag archival paper
Various dimensions

Second Beach, 2016
Pigment print on baryta rag archival paper
Various dimensions

Man & Lumber Co., 2016
Pigment print on baryta rag archival paper
Various dimensions

Scott, 2016
Pigment print on baryta rag archival paper
Various dimensions