Most people have gone on vacation, visiting places nearby or across the globe. The artist book My Tourist Town explores the relationship of the local with the commercialization and marking of their homes within the tourist industry. Through locations that have personal significance around their hometowns of Mystic and New London, Connecticut the artist and her father share their own memories and perspective of growing up within a tourist destination. Both the narrative and imagery start the dialog about the relationship locals have with their hometowns and the tourism that keeps them afloat.

      This artist book has been designed to create a clear separation between the artist’s voice and that of her fathers. The illusion to a traditional photo album contradicts the cold and commercial nature of the appropriated website images we have become familiar with. While the content is specific to the artist and her father’s life, the reader is able to project their own experiences and opinions regarding the overarching subject.

      The primary thread in the book consists of the photographs from the Gipstein family archive. In addition, formal photographs focus on the landscape of many of the places mentioned offering a counter perspective to the commonly marketed image of thriving tourist destinations. The panoramas and other formal photographs show how these landscapes change both physically as well as atmospherically throughout the colder seasons when tourists aren’t around.