Ocotillo at Night 1975

Richard Misrach made this photograph, "Ocotillo at Night," using light and shadow to capture the stark beauty of the desert. The print has a sepia tone, like an old memory, and the textures are really tactile. You can almost feel the grit of the desert floor. The ocotillo plant itself is this burst of light, these white lines against the dark sky. Look at the tips of those branches. It's as if they're reaching, searching for something in the dark. It's like a gesture, a dance. Misrach often deals with the relationship between humans and the landscape, and I think of Vija Celmins, another artist who finds so much in the details, making the ordinary extraordinary. This image feels both timeless and very much of a specific place. Art is like that, isn't it? Holding multiple possibilities at once.