Essay 540 • Dec 3rd 2023
- by Annika White & Carl Knight
“Moments Before Checkout” chronicles our road trips to the lesser touched corners of America. These trips began from a need to grasp a fleeting sense of the unknown. The distances started out short and only grew longer as we learned just how far we could get on a single tank of gas in Carl’s mom’s Prius.
We would stay in the cheapest motels we could find, often decorated with familiar elements such as faded floral bedspreads and torn wallpapers or 1950’s era bathrooms with pastel tiles. And with each new room came a new portrait: a new moment to preserve. However, being that these stays were often for only one night, we would wait until the morning to take these photos in our attempt to capture the best natural light. And, as we do not rise early, we would often take them moments before checkout.
Annika White & Carl Knight
As a creative duo and life partners, we have collectively made a body of photographic and film/video work together that spans nearly eight years. Initially brought to one another by the intuitive crossover of our instinctual sensibilities, we have since grown in somewhat of a unison through shared experiences that accompany the natural progression and documentation of our relationship. With overlapping feelings in regards to our gender fluidity and dismality toward the detriment of American capitalism, we combine our shared passion for the fantastical to merge our distinct approaches and create beyond the bounds of our own singular perspectives. We’ve worked with just about every photographic format, most often with a microscopic team consisting of just the two of us. Ultimately, our process is rooted in constant creation – no matter our means.
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