Billboard

NIGEL BANKS, 2024

Billboard reflects the idea of a well-crafted message stranded in isolation, like a billboard in the desert—beautiful, but unseen. Inspired by John Jantsch’s metaphor for websites that no one visits, the piece explores the futility and beauty of self-expression that may or may not reach an audience.

In three phases, Billboard mirrors the journey of life. We begin by projecting our aspirations outward—our billboards shaped by ego and early self-discovery. But as life unfolds, these grand declarations are stripped down by experience, like wind and water eroding the surface. In the final phase, we have shed the need for external validation. Ego opens a balanced dialogue with True Self, and we become whole, no longer needing the billboards that once defined us.