LOCATION
LONDON, U.K.
LOCATION
GUIDE: CECILIA CHARLTON
TOAD TRIP U.S.A.
GUIDES: AMBER COBB AND MARIO ZOOTS
London
Toadtrip USA
Text and images by Cecilia Charlton
Text and images by Amber Cobb and Mario Zoots
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ith my studio at home, I have hardly been anywhere besides my flat since March. I have grown quite fond of my lockdown life, with its small radius and familiar domestic routines. Just a few minutes' walk from my flat is Telegraph Hill Park, which has a spectacular view of London. I have met friends for socially-distanced catch-ups in the park
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over the last few months, so it has become a familiar haunt. My partner and I have also incorporated a post-dinner walk into our routine. Each evening, we walk a short circuit around the neighborhood with the view of the train tracks being our apogee. Seeing them every day, the tracks have become personified — we enjoy catching them in a different light, under a different sky.
e are both extroverts whose shared love for art, big cities, and pool halls takes us around the world. When COVID-19 cases surfaced in the United States, travel plans and 'artcations' were all postponed. Stir-crazy after a few months of isolation and quarantine, we escaped our home in Denver to explore, by land, the region we often fly over. Our intentions were to avoid the cities and to
Our desire to reconnect with nature on our "All American Road Trip," which, Zoots soon titled "All American Toad Trip" took unexpected turns and revealed new perspectives. Traveling slowly on old highways, side streets, and dirt roads created more time to explore places and sites; there was more time to reflect and understand other viewpoints on the past, and how history unfolds in the present.
Examining how nature expands over and through abandoned towns, homes, and vehicles full of unknown memories, awoke our own sense of mortality. In a year, unlike any other, 2020 causes you to reimagine a new way of living. Exhausted after hours and days of driving, we often found comfort through humor. Gas stations and rest stops are full of unexpected surprises.
reconnect with nature.
Cecilia Charlton is an artist based in London whose vibrantly patterned artworks are born from colorful, embroidered fiber. ceciliacharlton.com @ceciliacharlton
Amber Cobb and Mario Zoots are both artists who live and work in Denver, Colorado. Cobb’s interdisciplinary work explores the psychology and physicality of intimacy through sculpture. Zoots brings a street art background to explorations in contemporary collage. ambercobb.com / @amberdcobb mariozoots.com / @zoots
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