Broken Dreams

A place described by The Center for Land Use Interpretation as a territory that “engenders a full spectrum of perceptions, a place that accommodates extremes and tolerates a kind of freedom that expands the margins of society, and is refuge for various outsiders, radicals, and rebels.” This is the territory of “Broken Dreams”, a documentary on the present as past in the desert of exurban Los Angeles.

Carofano’s portrait-like images of the desert-scape render vegetation, architecture, and utility with equal shares of passion and objectivity. Composition yields to a straight-ahead, documentary frontality in the majority of images, and the entire series is infused with a surreal quality.

Impressionistic images of subjects encourages an intimate, empathetic reading. Whether the subject is abandoned and forgotten or functioning in isolation, these images trace society’s impact on open space like punctuation marks on a blank page.

Ron Linden

Painter, Curator & Professor of Art