Everything Beautiful is Far Away

The title of Rob Ball’s exhibition, Everything Beautiful is Far Away, offers a compelling way into a fifteen-year photographic journey that includes over 100 seaside resorts, from the damp, neon-lit promenades of Blackpool to the fading ‘Doo-Wop’ motels of Wildwood, New Jersey. The title implies a distance that is both metaphysical and geographical, capturing the reality of the irregular beauty to be found in these places, and in the idealised notion of beauty that fuels the holiday dream. It evokes the anticipation of future travel, of something to look forward to, an escape from the repetitive nature of work, and its tight regulation of personal time.