These are images of vacant sites on Mexico’s Baja Peninsula. There, a place’s significance is measured by the emptiness surrounding it. Beyond the uninhabited space in which they exist are the vast distances of time that separates them from us. These sites have no significant history. They are not shrouded in meaning. Nor do they suffer the distraction of architectural splendor. Even the most whimsical were constructed for utility’s sake and when no longer serving a purpose, were left behind to mark a dead end—much like the memorial crosses found along Baja’s desert roads. Some of these buildings are mere whims that sprang up, lost momentum, and remain forever unfinished. Others, like cactus, flourish in damp times and suddenly go dormant in dry seasons. One draws no lesson from these buildings unless it is that shop-worn one about the folly of all human endeavor and its stubborn ability to regenerate.
Yet, looking attentively at these places, freed from their original purposes, they become a pure experience of form, texture, color, and light. And while looking, we might become aware of a primal harmony that exists beyond space and time—that exists within them and within us.
