In Denmark, there are 148 rest areas with open toilets supervised by the Danish Road Directorate. The larger motorway stops are often owned by petrol stations and restaurant chains. At the same time, independent cafeterias still dot the landscape, serving classic Danish dishes in keeping with tradition. The access card to these places is the car that takes one from a to b.
Information boards indicate the sights of the local area, the places where the view is more beautiful than the planted, anonymous wall of trees that shields the fields in the background. For some, the rest stop is more than a stop on the road - it’s the destination of the journey itself, whether it be for leisure or pleasure.
In the project Are we nearly there yet? Mathias Eis explores life and landscape through his realistic photography at Danish rest areas. Although most people have been to a rest area, few people attach any special value to these places. It is the small surprising moments that are throughout the project and help to tell the story of everyday life along motorways.
Specifically, Eis has visited strategically selected rest areas, preferably those that are still run independently of the big chains. This is where Eis finds the most authentic and traditional cafés and stories. A small piece of Danish transport history.
As such, the project provides an authentic insight into the lives of Danes, as seen through the stories that take place at rest stops.
The intention is that the viewer can mirror themselves in the moments depicted in the project, whether it is childhood memories from the summer holidays, on the Danish country roads, or just the trip home to the part of the family that lives on the other side of the bridge. At the same time, the goal is to create a nuanced contemporary image of Denmark and the people who are either at work, travelling through the country, or just stopping at a rest area as a break from everyday life.
