I Am Your Mirror, 7 (Cañon City, Colorado)

O Zhang

2011

dye-coupler print

20" x 30"

Born in China and attuned to signs and posters that contain political messaging, Zhang found inspiration in the beauty and desolation of abandoned billboards as she traversed across America for her first US-based photo project. Captured in a rear-facing side mirror of a car, this work juxtaposes the assumed economic prosperity of America with the sense of places left behind. In this work, Zhang finds a balance between hope and despair: "In I Am a Mirror, each blank billboard seems to me a reflection of contemporary America. Collectively, they describe both fading dreams and new beginnings."

Credit

Gift of The Vilcek Foundation