Rebecca Philio About

I am a flâneuse, a pscyhogeographer, a pedestrian, and a walker.

Those who know me know that I walk...EVERYWHERE. I used to daydream about walking urban environments as a child, and as soon as I moved to Boston as a late teen, I took to the streets to make it a reality. It’s a time when I can think, brainstorm, trouble-shoot, and just unwind. I also walk for my daily commute.

We are often limited in our view of what is around us. Daily tasks constrain us from really experiencing our own towns and cities. We wake up, get ready for the day, commute, spend our time working, run errands, and commute home. Leisure activities are usually linked with some form of consumption and scheduled in times of rest. Using the Situationist framework of pyschogeography and the dérive, I embrace the act of walking and exploring urban environments. It’s about going beyond the micro-environment of daily life. Your environment guides you, in a way, and letting this happen makes walking more playful.

It isn't coincidence that walking and photography go hand in hand for me. Photography is a means for self-expression and creative fulfillment. I am captivated by the visual texture in everyday objects. Their chaordic nature interests me and I find beauty within them. These images are often captured while on one of my countless dérives (drifts). I am fascinated by how the environment can effect one’s emotions. I am often drawn to naturally occurring patterns and textures left behind after human contact such as graffiti or from natural deterioration such as old weathered advertisements. These traces prompt me to consider what these areas may have been like in the past and what memories are linked to them. Within my images I try and examine the struggle present between beauty and the grotesque.