“I got sick of living around people with money”

Ajo Arizona sits a few miles from the Mexican border and is one of the most isolated and inhospitable towns in America.

Dwellings there are shaped by the intense heat—homes have windows covered in aluminum foil to reflect sunlight, their wood siding buckled and warped. The town “cemetery” consists of graves covered in concrete shoveled into primitive mounds, crosses etched on the surface. A massive abandoned open-pit mine, formed of concentric rings that recede into the Earth's surface, culminates in a black pool. The water and air are tainted with poisons from the operation of the mine.

A man's house sits within this landscape. After his death, I sifted through thousands of artifacts, journal entries, and photographs there—evidence of a life serving in the U.S. military, working aboard biological research vessels in the Caribbean, studying art at the legendary experimental school Black Mountain College, working as a US Forest Ranger, and teaching college.

The juxtaposition of images of the impoverished, otherworldly environment, the desert landscape, and objects found in the house that evidence a rich and interesting life seem incongruous. Found journals containing quotes like “I sleep a lot and do not work in the evening. If I was someone’s horse they would probably take me out back and shoot me.”, capture an increasingly disturbed state of mind, as well as chaotic goings-on in the community. “A week ago Thursday one of my friends, Allen, was stabbed in the stomach by his girlfriend/business partner Ramona. He has been in critical care ever since he went to the hospital. He is a gentle quiet hard-working man”. These journal entries are woven together with images of items found inside the house: wooden boxes of insects mounted on pins, a ziplock bag labeled “ELAINES ASHES”, and notes taped to walls, one saying “SOMEONE HAS STOLEN 19 PILLS OF HYDROCODONE.” as well as images of the desert landscape and the town, suggesting the unpredictability, mystery, and harshness of life.

Ajo is a dialogue between a series of found photographs and journal entries documenting the historic arc of a life, juxtaposed with images from the time when they were found—a meditation on the passage of time, and the shifting nature of one person’s reality.

This project was a Photolucida Critical Mass finalist in 2022.