78th South: Photographs by Andrew Patteson

In this project I am photographing along the entirety of a road called 78th South. It is unusual in that it traverses (with only a few deviations) the entire Salt Lake Valley, from east to west. This creates a cross-section of sorts, an arbitrary line that passes through leafy suburbs, commercial sprawl, barren scrub meadows, and everything in-between. I chose this road because it passes near my house, and I wanted to come to know it better. I wanted to find out what I and others drive by every day. I am not attempting to document this stretch of asphalt but rather to discover it. As I walk, I hope to find unexpected moments of grace -- a surprising juxtaposition, a sudden cohesion in the structure of a scene, or a whisper of ungrasped meaning from the utterly mundane.