Noº 21/151: Spatial Expansion
Collection: Behind the Pool House
It was Presidents’ Day in Miami, 2017, and I was trying to put a man inside a bubble in the middle of the road Madonna had been photographed hitchhiking naked a few blocks away in the 80’s. We were having considerably more trouble with traffic.
We’d wait ten minutes for a gap, then have ten or fifteen seconds to get into the street and take pictures. Then back to the side of the road. Another line of cars. More waiting.
Looking at Spatial Expansion, you’d never know how busy it was.
The whole thing started with the palm trees. I was driving along Alton Road around noon and noticed their shadows falling almost directly beneath them. I loved how they looked on the pavement. I didn’t have the photograph worked out yet, but I knew I wanted those shadows.
The man in the bubble came later.
I’ve used bubbles in a few photographs, and they don’t always mean the same thing. Around a man jumping off a cliff, a bubble can look like protection—his own personal airbag. Something that lets him feel invincible.
This one is about shutting the world out. The man has made a little place for himself where nothing can touch him. But he doesn’t look entirely comfortable in there, either. I wanted to leave that feeling unresolved. Sometimes you need to be alone, and sometimes you’re alone and still can’t relax.
To make the bubbles I mixed dish soap, xanthan gum, and water in a bucket, then made a giant wand from two rods, string, and a metal washer. A suburban mom on YouTube showed me how.
At least twice, someone I knew drove past and rolled down their window to say hello. There I was, making a photograph about shutting out the world, and people kept stopping to chat.
When I put the images together, I made sure the bubble had the palm trees reflected in it. That detail mattered. I wanted you to believe the man was really in there, in the middle of that street, and I’d just happened to catch him.
I was happy with how it turned out. I’d managed to get what I’d pictured in my head, which doesn’t happen every time.
It went on to appear in a magazine and on billboards around Miami. For several years, it was my most popular photograph, until Pretending came out in 2021. All that standing around with a bucket of soap turned out to be worth it.
I’ll be back in Miami December 2–7. I think this will be my first Art Week as a visitor. I’ve always been there with something to do or something to exhibit, so I’m curious how it’ll feel to have a little more time on my hands. I do have a few shoots planned. Mostly, I’m looking forward to seeing familiar faces at the fairs, on the boardwalk, or down at the beach. If you see me, come say hello.
If this was worth your time, pass it on.
This work will become a book.
Photographs and field notes by James Miille
Words by Jona Montoya
