MELISSALAND

“…Before our collective paradigm shift (the financial “crisis”, or “clusterfuck”, etc.) this is what the future looked like; rich black tarmac paved and waiting to be surrounded by a subdivision. The trees would have to go, of course, and a dozen more just like this would have to be built, clustered tightly inside whatever preplanned area fit best with the land purchase. The real gift, given to us by the meltdown, is that of a better future; even if that future is still purely hypothetical, as this empty cul-de-sac, above. Of course, we don’t know what this new future will look like, yet. There are thousands of ways to go from here and the evidence is still underdetermined as to which is the best. It’s fortunate, I guess, considering how badly we failed in our previous utopiuan dreams. Eventually, though, we’re going to have to settle down and figure out exactly what we want our bright-shiny-new future to look like and then set about constructing it.”

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Photo by: Stacy Arezou Mehrfar - Magnolia, Texas. April 2006 #1 — from the series American Palimpsests

Text by: William Ball