Celine Gordon
Mid-Heights Sign
This work explores cycles of life and death surrounding Route 66 in Albuquerque. Central Avenue was once adorned with bold, kitschy neon signs symbolizing the lively spirit of the road and the unique character of Albuquerque. These signs were more than just advertisements; they were pieces of art that reflected the culture and identity of our city.
However, as time has passed, these neon signs have aged, and city ordinances have limited the revitalization of this distinctive art form. With their disappearance, we lose a part of our city's visual landscape. At the same time, our city remains deeply tied to car culture with urban sprawl and few walkable areas.
This sign portrays both Route 66’s past and present. One side shows downtown Albuquerque in its heyday when colorful neon signs lined the streets—a time when cars symbolized freedom and adventure. The other side shows a broken neon sign, partially buried in the sand, representing the decay and abandonment of this once-thriving art form.
As we mourn the loss of these iconic signs, we also hold onto a glimmer of hope for a future where travel is not solely dictated by automobiles. We envision a Route 66 that makes room for new life, embracing more equitable and sustainable modes of transportation. This work serves as a bridge between nostalgia and progress, inviting reflection on how we honor the past while shaping a more inclusive future.
Zahra Marwan
Mid-Heights Sign
Bright colors facing the mountains, a man illuminating beauty in the darkness. “I hope you're always looking and never lost,” Yasmeen Khaja told me when after struggling to find her in Kuwait's old market, arriving an hour late, I had a dream after traveling back to New Mexico a few days later that I was in the old market, still lost and looking for her.
You've wasted the lives of the mountains is the translation of the text beneath the man with the flashlight. Meaning perhaps that you've given disillusion to or overlooking greatness. The other Arabic line underneath the yellow and pink florals, beneath the We Remember, of course we Remember is he asks the night and the day perhaps ruminating among the thousand why's we ask ourselves trying to understand things we may have lived.
The phrases are from a song The Immortal River النهر الخالد, an Egyptian song performed famously by Mohamed Abd El Wahab written in the 1950's by poet Mahmoud Hassan Ismael. It's about a traveler over taken by place and imagination along the Nile, invoking enchantment and the drunkenness of love people feel around him. A song I would often listen to with my father on night drives nowhere but to listen. The art and the phrases I hope invoke the depths of beauty and longing we all may feel, even in passing.