The magazine of the photo-essay
Dec 2017 back issue
“A free, really high quality photo-essay magazine. Fabulous!”
Stephen Fry. British actor, writer and film maker
by Arthur Drooker
Pie Town a remote community on the Continental Divide in New Mexico, about 160
miles southwest of Albuquerque. Population: 70, maybe. It has no stores, no
sidewalks, not even a stoplight. It’s the kind of place most people see in a blur as
they speed by on US 60. But Pie Town is worth a stop for, yes, a piece of pie and a
slice of life as few Americans live it. That's exactly what photographer Russell Lee
did in 1940 and what I did following in his footsteps some seventy years later.
Lee visited Pie Town while working as a photographer documenting Depression-era
America for the Farm Security Administration (FSA). He was so impressed with the
pioneer spirit of the homesteaders he met that he made more than 600 photographs
in Pie Town, the most of any place documented in the entire FSA file. Inspired by
Lee’s photographs, I began work on Pie Town Revisited in 2011 and completed it in
2015.
To create this series I re-photographed a selection of Lee's pictures in Pie Town,
making visual juxtapositions, contrasting past and present. At the same time, I
imagined myself as an FSA photographer documenting what happened to the pioneer spirit that had so impressed Lee.
What emerged evokes William Faulkner's quote, "The past is not dead. In fact, it's not even past."
Roy Stryker, the head of the FSA photo unit, said that the goal of FSA photography was to "introduce America to
Americans." In doing so, the pictures would help unite citizens despite their differences. That goal still resonates in our
polarized times. In this spirit, I introduce to you a few Americans and the place they call home, Pie Town.
Anna Roth.
Cain and Dugout.
Collins Norris.
Cracked View.
Flag and Pies.
FSA@VLA
Homestead.
Icebox.
Kathy Knapp.
Paul Thomas.
Pie rack.
Pop McKee.
Pie Town Hotel.
US60 AM.
