The side project portfolio refers to projects that they are just starting, are minor, embryonic, emerging or works -in-progress. The emphasis is on the process of making rather than the finished product as in an exhibition or a photo-book. These kinds of projects can be ones that are unstructured, lack direction, or are still vaguely conceptualized.
This mean that, though the project has some good images, it is unclear where the project is going; what the narrative is — if there is one; the concept of the series is vague, or it is unclear how the images /or text will be pulled together into some kind of future unity. Vagueness is a characteristic of a side/work-in-progress project. In the more formalised understanding of the art institution they are visual notebooks, diaries or works-in-progress.
There is some context and background to the idea of a side, emerging, or work-in-progress project on the Light Paths blog. The basic aim of the portfolio is to give a more stable presence to a work in progress than that offered by the ephemerality of Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or Threads. Graeme Hastwell’s fascinating Tableland Rd project is a work in progress. The Tableland Rd lies between the eastern Mt Lofty Ranges and the Murray Plains and it runs between Truro and Eudunda.
The Long Road to the North
One of Gary Sauer-Thompson’s side project is the Long Road to the North. Though the project has its own blog it is a very loose work in progress, is vague where it is going, and unclear in what it signifies.
The project’s initial impetus was based on walking with camels in South Australia’s northern Flinders Ranges and the Vulkathunha-Gammon Ranges.