Anaheim, California 1983

Joe Deal made this photograph, Anaheim, California, sometime in the 70’s, and he did so with a keen eye for process. In a way, the image itself feels like a document of something in the making, a place in transition. I’m struck by the almost clinical, detached quality of the photograph. The monochromatic palette lends it a starkness that highlights the textures and surfaces. Look at the way the light plays on the siding of the house, or the roughness of the excavated earth in the foreground. The composition is so simple, almost like a grid, but then you notice the little imperfections, the subtle shifts in tone, the lone figure working. It reminds me a bit of some of the New Topographics photographers, like Robert Adams, who were also interested in documenting the changing American landscape. But Deal brings his own sensibility to it, a kind of quiet observation that invites you to look closer and consider the layers of meaning embedded in this seemingly ordinary scene. It is an invitation to consider the ongoing conversation we're having with the land.