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20/21 | Collection | Conversation | Process 20/21 Gallery
Conversation: Place, Part II, Kansas
Chief Drive-In Sign in Topeka, Kansas
Airplane Motel in Wichita, Kansas
Downtown, Lucas
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Click on a thumbnail above to view the entire piece.
In 1974, Kansas was the perfect place for Susan, my wife, and me to start a life and family. So we moved from Boston in a Volkswagen Microbus and a U-Haul and we set up shop. Over the years, I continually found Kansas to be an exotic and fascinating region to explore with a camera.I still find, many years later, as the Kansas light and air turns crisp and clear each October, I get the itch to get on the road to head west before winter arrives. And I think up some good excuse to re-visit the gorgeous prairie, its little towns, and wonderful people. You can always tell if its been a good year…there’re lots of new pick-ups around.
Earl Iversen
Topeka
Once the proud figurehead of Topeka’s Chief Drive-in Theatre, today, the neon profile of the chief can be found in front of the Wal-Mart on 37th Street. Reflecting upon “his” changed circumstances I find myself generalizing the sign’s treatment to that of how Native Americans have been treated within our country historically. They, too, have experienced fragmentation and displacement at the hands of others and have borne witness to the exchange of parking lots and mini-malls for their once fertile grasslands.”Wichita
Ellen Raimond, Spencer Museum Photography Intern
By focusing his camera on a motel sign featuring a life-sized model of an airplane in flight, Earl Iverson aptly references Wichita’s long-held reputation as the “Air Capital of the U.S.” But in light of Wichita Boeing’s recent round of layoffs, we can interpret Iverson’s deceptively playful scene in a darker vein. That is, the precarious positioning of the aircraft mirrors the uncertain economic position faced by hundreds of Boeing’s former employees.
Lucas
I was in Lucas last year on Memorial Day and the town was absolutely jumping - including a parade with a Garden of Eden-themed float. Usually when I compare an older view of a small town with the current view Main Street sadly seems like a ghost town. I'm enjoying reversing that perception here.Anonymous
2008-05-08
