Untitled (train tracks in a Western landscape) c. 1970

Curator: This photograph by Michael Mathers, titled "Untitled (train tracks in a Western landscape)" presents an interesting perspective. Editor: It evokes a feeling of isolation, doesn’t it? The stark black and white emphasizes the vastness, and those tracks cutting through the landscape suggest something ominous. Curator: Right, the train tracks, icons of industrial progress, have historically been linked with the displacement of indigenous populations and resource extraction, which profoundly altered the American West. Editor: And the small buildings alongside the tracks, almost like neglected shrines, what do they signify? Are they markers of failed promise? Curator: Perhaps. They could symbolize the small, forgotten communities that sprung up and often vanished along these routes, casualties of a particular kind of progress. Editor: It's a powerful reminder that landscapes are never neutral; they're always inscribed with layers of history and power. Curator: Exactly, and Mathers invites us to consider those layers.