Both Directions at Once-series statement below
In this chapter of his Zion series, inspired by his visceral experiences in the otherworldly landscapes of southern Utah, Jeffrey has created a deeply mystical and hallucinatory body of work, entitled Both Directions at Once. The title refers to a conversation John Coltrane had with the great saxophonist Wayne Shorter about the evolution with his jazz compositions during a recording session in the 1950’s “....about starting a sentence in the middle, then going to the beginning and the end of it at the same time.... both directions at once.” For Jeffrey, this dialogue between these two jazz greats was an “a ha!” teaching moment as it was the nexus of his art practice in the field; to have an inner dialogue with the landscape, to be in the “middle”, to embody both the spirit and to be moved close to tears by its’ beauty- the “beginning” the reason he keeps going back time and time again to these spaces and at the same instant to be utterly open to the moment and to capture that energy on film, “the end.” In creating Both Directions at Once, Jeffrey wants to bring the viewer into his hallucinatory experience, to see these landscapes as he witnessed and experienced them, a magical place filled with overwhelming beauty and strangeness, humbled by the immense expanse of time and grounded in a certainty that these ancient landscapes are very much alive and speak to those who are attuned to listen.
