The United States interstate system is comprised of 46, miles of highways, enough to circle Earth almost twice. Unintentionally, some of these spaces have become complex mini-habitats, completely surrounded by off-ramps, freeway, roads, and rushing cars. In photographing these locations, I am consciously aestheticizing these forgotten or un-appreciated spaces. Through the act of looking I am asserting value and acknowledgement.
Far from being the one place on earth that stands apart from humanity, it is quite profoundly a human creationβindeed, the creation of very particular human cultures at very particular moments in human history.
It is not a pristine sanctuary where the last remnant of an untouched, endangered, but still transcendent nature can for at least a little while longer be encountered without the contaminating taint of civilization. Instead, it is a product of that civilization, and could hardly be contaminated by the very stuff of which it is made.
Our romanticized notions of the pristine wilderness or virgin land as untouched and uninhabited are incongruent with its fraught history of colonization, the frontier, and the relocation and genocide of indigenous peoples. Lois Bielefeld. Greenfield, WI. Ramp S, ALois Street.
Milwaukee, WI. Lafayette, CA. Ramp N, 46th Street. Ramp N, Sherman Way. Van Nuys, CA. Exit , Hwy 5, McBean Parkway. Santa Clarita, CA. Ramp 5S, McBean Parkway. Glendale, WI.
