Golf Course under Construction, Arizona 1993

This black and white photograph depicts a golf course under construction in Arizona, by Emmet Gowin. It’s a bird’s eye view, and what strikes me most is the image's composition. The landscape is bisected into these biomorphic shapes, like an oyster bed that’s been sectioned into parts. I’m imagining Gowin hovering in a small plane, framing this shot. What was he thinking as he captured this scene? I feel the contrast between the stark industrial patterns and the more fluid, natural forms. You can almost feel the desert heat radiating off the cracked earth, and the heavy machinery digging into the soil. In the top right corner, those little white circles—are those sprinklers, or flags? It reminds me of some other land artists, but it’s also different because the composition is so ambiguous and surreal.