Urban Archipelago is an exploration of the intricate web of culture, history, and humanity that forms the backbone of urban landscapes. By piecing together fragments of collage and paintings I depict the multi-scaled and rhizomatic systems that create a city’s nervous system. Through this project I placed myself in the role of documentarian and examined how interconnected micro-communities and neighborhoods weave together. By walking through distinct neighborhoods and photographing the houses, apartments, trees, gardens, walls, and skies that make them up it is my intention to represent these areas that we live; where we call home. This process became as much about self-discovery as documentation—a confrontation with my own biases and aesthetic choices in the search for an unfiltered lens. Like the walls and streets around us, the underlying history of Denver became an ever present influence on this work; sifting through old newspapers and learning of the brightest and darkest moments of this city. The overlapping, flowing elements reflect how these systems of human connection merge, expand, and adapt, capturing the organic beauty and complexity of human urban areas. Like an archipelago of islands, the city is made up of these separate but interwoven worlds, collectively forming the vibrant, diverse ecosystems of our built environments.
Raymond Gabriel 