Abandoned Highways

I have always been drawn to the mystery of archaeological remains. I enjoy the sense of discovery, the clues to be read, the stories to be teased out of small fragments. Add to this the visual beauty and patina of an object that is past its prime and is embedded into an existing landscape and you have, in my opinion, a loaded subject full of implications.

The series “Abandoned Highways,” was conceived in the mid 1980’s after I moved to California. It struck me that in this throwaway California culture, so heavily based on the automobile, the abandoned highway itself could be a kind of unexpected archaeology. As the interstate highway system was built starting in the late 1950’s, many older two-lane highways were simply abandoned. They are often left near their wider replacements with their centerlines still visible, though slowly being reclaimed by nature. The centerline then, the line that all drivers know well, becomes an index to change. Photographed in different California locations, the series uses the centerline as a common structure that provides continuity and a familiar guide.