Antidote to the Royal Academy
John Margolies spent forty years (1969-2008) driving around the American backroads and photographing roadside attractions. It started when he was a teenager and first got his driver’s license.
He would typically rent a car and stay in motels, driving out early in the morning before families arrived. He particularly like the morning sky and would skip a site if he didn’t like the light. He got a journalism and art history degree and supported himself writing books.
He bequeathed the lot to the Library of Congress, and you can browse them here. Though I didn’t find the interactive map very interactive.
I tried to do something similar. I bought my first SLR camera to document the freakshow posters at the state fair and – wouldn’t you know it? – that was the year they all got cold feet about the existence of freakshows.
October 15, 2026 — 5:12 pm
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