THIS LAND IS YOUR LAND: Across America by Air

by Marilyn Bridges ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 15, 1997

William Least Heat-Moon (Prairyerth, 1991, etc.) crisscrossed America by land and conveyed his impressions in words; Bridges travels by air and records her vision in photographs. Writing of her work here, Heat-Moon notes, ""For her, the face of the earth is one glyph after another shrouded in shadows to be exposed and interpreted."" Indeed, the stark contrast of her black-and-white photos gives free range to shadow play, adding a mysterious, if not slightly sinister, aura to even the most innocuous image, such as a church emerging from the darkness, surrounded by pine trees that seem to glow in the shadows. Other images create delicate ironies about humankind's impact on the land and air: Evoking the grandeur of Egypt, the pyramid-shaped convention center of Memphis, Tenn., rises calmly on the shore of the Mississippi; on the next page, a power plant rises more menacingly, belching a huge cloud of smoke. Weblike human mazes, in the form of a golf course, contrast with the more spidery maze of cattle tracks. This is a probing record of what Bridges calls the calligraphy of the land.

Pub Date: June 15, 1997

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: 108

Publisher: Aperture

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1997

Categories: NONFICTION