Zuma #32 1978

Curator: Here we have "Zuma #32" by John Divola, created in 1978. It’s a C-print photograph, part of his series documenting the interiors of abandoned buildings in Southern California. Editor: The contrast is stark. This ruined interior, charred and defaced, against that serene, almost saccharine, pink-tinged vista…it’s incredibly unsettling. The graffiti almost looks like wounds. Curator: Exactly. Divola wasn’t simply documenting decay. These abandoned buildings, often near the wealthy beach community of Malibu, became sites for his interventions. He was playing with ideas of urban blight, the illusion of the California dream, and challenging conventional notions of landscape photography. Editor: That makes sense. The repeated circle motif—sprayed red—resonates, I think, with ideas of defacement, the disruption of beauty. And the charring becomes an aggressive type of mark-making, each adding a new symbolic layer onto an already potent site. This scene suggests themes of abandonment and societal neglect, even class divisions perhaps. Curator: Precisely. The work invites contemplation on social issues surrounding abandoned spaces and their uneasy relationship with affluent coastal areas, reflecting institutional failures and governmental neglect that led to such social conditions. Editor: What strikes me is also how Divola has captured this transient moment. He photographs the residue of human action, in this forgotten shell—but captures too this vast eternal ocean. Curator: It's a photograph of layered realities and complex politics made visible, isn’t it? I appreciate how it allows us to consider both the destructive forces, social and physical, as well as any persisting possibility of change within the American landscape. Editor: Yes. It’s this compelling paradox of damage and enduring light that really lingers with me.