U.S. Highway 85 and Ciudad Juarez, Mexico from El Paso, Texas 2016

Curator: Oh, it’s bleak, isn't it? That heavy road, that wall cutting through the landscape like a dull knife. Editor: Here we have Joshua Dudley Greer's photograph, "U.S. Highway 85 and Ciudad Juarez, Mexico from El Paso, Texas." It's a contemporary work, capturing a view so freighted with political and social weight. Curator: It hits you right in the gut with its stark division. The ordinary textures of life – the scrubby plants, the houses clinging to the hillside – all trapped behind this… barrier. It feels almost like a stage set. Editor: And that's precisely the point, isn't it? The banality of the wall itself, the way it’s become part of the everyday landscape, a grim normal. It's a potent symbol of division rendered almost invisible through repetition. Curator: The color palette seems so muted as well. Almost drained of life by the heavy weight of the subject. Editor: Precisely. Greer forces us to confront the reality of this manufactured divide, and to consider the human cost behind the political rhetoric. Curator: It's a disquieting image, but I think it is important, that it sticks with you long after you've looked away. Editor: Indeed. It challenges us to reflect on the lines we draw, both literal and metaphorical, and the consequences they carry.