View of Easton, Pennsylvania 1936

Walker Evans captured this view of Easton, Pennsylvania, in a photograph, using light and shadow as tools to unearth deeper truths about the urban landscape. Dominating the scene are the chimneys, ancient symbols, not just of industry but of human ambition, reaching skyward like votive candles in some vast, secular cathedral. The factories and the church, both aspire, with their insistent verticality, to connect earth with something beyond. Think back to the Tower of Babel. This reaching for the heavens, a primal urge to transcend our earthly bounds, finds echoes in the spires of medieval cathedrals, symbols of progress and cultural aspiration. Yet, in this modern iteration, there’s a subtle shift. The factory chimneys, while aspiring, also hint at the darker side of progress: industry, modernity, and a disconnect between the past and the present. These visual echoes resonate in our collective memory, engaging us in the cyclical dance of human endeavor.