by Anthony Carr
The photographs which form the series Untitled, Big Bar Lake Ranch document the derelict buildings of a guest ranch in the rural southern Cariboo region of British Columbia, Canada, renowned for cattle farming and the gold rush era of the mid 19th Century.
These long exposure photographs, made from homemade pinhole cameras, use the sunlight from hundreds of holes in the slowly deteriorating roof to illuminate the dingy interiors over the course of 4 days. The streaks and lines dissecting the walls in the interior photographs are created by the sun as it moves across the sky.
Big Bar Lake Ranch was a homestead built by prominent local cowboy-rancher Harry Marriott in about 1920 and later turned into a guest ranch and run by his wife Peg Marriott until 1974. Now abandoned, the former home is a reminder of the pioneer days and simpler times.
On the theme of HOME, Winter 2011