74V17 Possibly 1973 - 1993

John Divola made this gelatin silver print, *74V17,* as part of his Zuma series, where he revisited abandoned interiors and added his own marks. Look at the center of the image and notice how Divola has painted concentric arches in diluted white across the corner of the wall and floor. I can imagine Divola, with his camera in tow, returning to this same location again and again to make his interventions. I wonder what it must have been like for him to be in that room, moving between documenting the space with his camera and acting upon it with his spray can. The act of photographing and painting become intertwined. The arch motif reads as a kind of portal, drawn over the surfaces, as if he is interested in the potential for transcendence within the quotidian. It's like he's saying, "I was here".