In/Finite Potential by Johnna Arnold

In/Finite Potential is a visual inquiry into the relationship between a small fleshy human such as myself and the extensive network of freeways that have helped to shape my life. I insert myself into these inhospitable landscapes to examine their ramifications, experiencing these freeways from a new perspective. The structures appear ominous and unequivocal – yet by relating with them directly, their massiveness becomes absurd, their reality all to clear: creator and created, intention and reality.

The successful customizing of our surroundings has dramatically altered our relationship with the land. I look for unexpected beauty in these altered places, trespassing with the combined intentions of research and rebellion. I appreciate the actions necessary to create these structures: communal decision-making, resource sharing, and hard physical work. Meanwhile, their consequences are now impossible to ignore: environmental degradation, division of neighborhoods, a physical and mental separation between ourselves and this land which gives us life.

I have touched the freeway gently, sung it songs. I’ve kicked at its reinforced bracing, defeated by its hostile construction. I’ve crawled between its massive barriers, feeling the potentially fatal streams of cars jettisoning around me, and meditated upon this lifestyle it supports.

As of yet, the freeway appears solemnly unaffected.

Johnna Arnold lives and works in Oakland, California.
To view more of Johnna’s work, please visit her website.