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Main Street has come to define small town USA, referring to a conceptual understanding of rural America as much as specific locales. Featuring local businesses, these diverse thoroughfares ultimately represent the community itself. Down on Main explores how exhibiting local goods and services reveals underlying economic, cultural, and socio-political values. My intention is to capture colloquial forms of (self) expression as townspeople place not just their wares, but something of themselves, on display.
Display windows are, by their very nature, liminal spaces. Thresholds. Attempting to attract the attention of passers-by, they rely upon (or induce) the casual, relaxed pace of pedestrians. Neglected or abandoned windows suggest a nostalgic, melancholy mood tied to the economic decline suffered by many rural downtowns. But storefronts can also tantalize and seduce, luring us with a visual tease of hidden interiors and unseen possibilities. Similarly delving beneath surface details, several images capture multilayered reflections, often revealing ironic or humorous juxtapositions.
The rich complexity of storefront displays has generated intriguing idiomatic expressions. To “window shop” is to just look without the intention of buying; to casually engage but not fully participate in the system of exchange. Down on Main aims to turn window shopping into a meaningful act of social and artistic engagement.
