While perusing through the photos of New York based artist Brea Souders’s new series End of the Road, I was struck with the feeling of déjà vu; her hauntingly captivating black and white images of people ambling along a lonely road would be befitting for the poem The Road not Taken by the famous American poet Robert Frost:

“Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,

And sorry I could not travel both

And be one traveler, long I stood

And looked down one as far as I could

To where it bent in the undergrowth;”

The struggle to find balance these last few months has been very difficult for many. The world came to a standstill as literal survival depended upon giving up many of the things that made surviving feel worthwhile. No longer could we stroll the streets, drink a beer with our buddies or hug a family member. Isolation became the name of the game, and many had no idea how to play. What do we do when we are faced with disconnecting social connections?

Souders, an artist and observer, captures people in the element of nature seeking escape from the confines of COVID-19 while they walk, bike and jog along a lonely path. Her use of black and white photography adds a somber tone to the images, creating an intense mood that evokes emotions from her viewers. The absence of color draws attention to her subjects without the distraction of other elements; some are blurred behind leaves, shadowed under the limbs of a tree or strolling along the grey path.

In her artist statement for the series, Souders said, “I began making these pictures in March 2020 after relocating to rural upstate New York from the city as a result of the global pandemic. The images are captured from within the last house on the road, which looks out onto a small, uninhabited piece of land leading to a gravel cul-de-sac. Through screened windows, tangled branches, maple leaves and atmosphere, I observe and photograph people as they travel to the end of the road.

“Zooming into the frames, I look for human faces and forms and wonder who these people are and what it means to them to travel to the end of the road. And I wonder about myself — what do I think I see and what am I hoping to find. And in all, that it seems there are no doubts at the end of the road, only travelers.”

End of the Road is a reminder of motion, the continuity of life and the actions of going and coming of anonymous people who are centered around movement at a time when stagnation has become the norm.

You can see more of Brea Souders work here