UNKNOWN HISTORIC ROUTE 66
by Donatella Davanzo
INAUGURATION: November 7, 2019, 6 pmClosing - November 30, 2019
FREE ENTRY
Associazione Italo Americana FVG
American Corner Trieste
Piazza Sant'ANTONIO Nuovo, 6 - Trieste
You can visit during office hours.
Mornings: Tues,Thurs, Sat . 9-12 - Afternoons: Mon. to Friday 4-7 pm
Mornings: Tues,Thurs, Sat . 9-12 - Afternoons: Mon. to Friday 4-7 pm
Highway
66 has been a major road in the Highway Systems since 1926 and has
characterized the American driving experience.
By combining Architectural and Humanistic knowledge with the methodologies of Visual Ethnography, my research project captures the heritage of the historic corridor as a phenomenon that significantly influenced American History and Culture.
Unknown
Historic “Route 66” is an exhibition that aims to illustrate some often unseen aspects
of the famous highway.
While
walking along Central Avenue, the section of Highway 66 that bisected
Albuquerque - New Mexico, I carefully observed roadside commercial facilities (auto
dealerships, gas stations, restaurants, motels, curio shops and signs) in terms
of their tangible and symbolic components.
By
exploring these key aspects as the original conditions of existence of the Old
Route, my documentary photographs intend to offer a new perspective of the
route to reveal how the current uses preserve or adapt its heritage according
to different social and economic conditions.
Considering the ongoing changes that characterize the current iconic
“Route 66”, this visual documentation aims to stimulate further investigation
and be a historical resource for future generations.
Donatella Davanzo - Photographer
Donatella Davanzo, Italian American anthropologist, was awarded
a Ph.D. in American Studies at the University of New Mexico in 2018 after completing her Master's Degree in Cultural Anthropology (2004) and a Bachelor's degree in Philosophy
(2001) in
Italy. Her anthropological works focus on the connection between community and
territory.
Considering photography as an ethnographic tool, she used the visual
methodology and the applied research to document the use of space by the Native
American communities in the Southwest area and the acequia, the traditional water management in New Mexico.
She has taken part in Italian projects focusing on social and cultural
aspects, such as traditional Venetian crafts and the work of the clown-doctors.
In her first book, “Tango in Venice” published in 2011, she used photography to
document stories of tango dancers from an anthropological perspective that
makes photographic series and framings a true study of people, use of space,
and dance as a ritual.
In addition to many exhibitions in Italy and abroad, her
photographic works have also been published in essays, articles, and artistic
monographs. She worked as the official photographer for the Italian Public
Administration until 2011 when she began a doctoral program in American
Studies (UNM). During her doctoral studies, she also attended and completed
the Historic Preservation and Regionalism graduate certificate program in the
School of Architecture and Planning.
From 2013 to 2015 and her research project
for the doctoral dissertation in 2016, she documented the historic section of the original Route 66 in the urban
context of Albuquerque, New Mexico to capture its current vernacular landscape. Her photographic work
is now part of the digital collections at the Center for the Southwest Research (Zimmerman
Library, UNM).
Additional November Events in theme with ROAD TRIP USA at this LINK
Additional November Events in theme with ROAD TRIP USA at this LINK
