Crossroads (2009) was developed out of the artist’s investigation into the mythology surrounding the legendary Robert Johnson, a bluesman with three gravestones, 29 recorded songs and only two known photographs. Crossroads retreads the well-trodden path of the white man looking for a genuine blues experience. A figure roams the landscape, yearning for Blues authenticity, re-enacting clichéd images from popular culture; guitar picking on porches, walking dusty roads, finding the crossroads.
The landscape seduces, but undermining this romantic vision is the appearance of an inverted Minstrel, an alter-ego who haunts the journey. The film is also a portrait of the Mississippi Delta, a place that is still deeply, but not officially, segregated. In this quest for the authentic, the search for the Blues becomes a wider search for self, one man’s search for reconciliation with a plundered culture.
