Flores, Guatemala 2006

John Gossage made this photograph, Flores, Guatemala, at an unknown date. It's all in black and white, capturing a humble building in Guatemala, all crisscrossed with wires. I imagine Gossage, strolling through the streets, camera in hand, stopping to notice the light hitting this little house. Maybe he was drawn to the contrast between the simple architecture and the chaotic tangle of electrical wires overhead. It's funny how the mundane can become so interesting when framed just right. The wires almost become like lines in a drawing, adding a layer of abstraction to the scene. Gossage isn't trying to pretty things up or romanticize anything. Instead, he's showing us the world as it is, with all its imperfections and contradictions. Other photographers like Stephen Shore were also capturing these vernacular scenes at the time. It makes you think about what we choose to notice and what gets overlooked. Like, what is worth photographing and preserving?