Plane Station, California 1976

Curator: This is Elaine Mayes' photographic print, "Plane Station, California," capturing a very specific moment in American transportation history. Editor: There's a stark loneliness to it, amplified by the monochrome and vast emptiness. The Standard Oil sign feels like a relic amidst the open space. Curator: Indeed. The sign speaks to the rise of car and air travel in the mid-20th century, and the associated infrastructure that reshaped the American landscape. Think of roadside attractions and how they impacted where people moved. Editor: It's an interesting juxtaposition—this emblem of connectivity standing almost forlorn, hinting at the environmental cost of that era’s growth. Curator: We can analyze Mayes' approach as part of the New Topographics movement, focusing on the man-altered landscape, devoid of romanticism. Editor: It's a record of progress, perhaps, but through a contemporary lens, we can understand the costs, and the communities left behind. Curator: It certainly makes us ponder the legacy of that "progress." Editor: Absolutely, a portrait of an era—in stark black and white.