FLAGSTAFF (AZFamily) — When most people think of Route 66, they probably imagine vintage cars and neon lights, but that’s not always reflective of the reality that the Mother Road was back in the day.
A new gallery in Flagstaff aims to show the real, gritty, and human side of Route 66.
A photo is worth 1,000 words. In a new gallery at the Coconino Center for the Arts, a photo hangs on the wall showing an exhausted man bent over an engine covered in car grease, smoking a cigarette.
Marketing director Julie Sokol said their new “Route 66: Alternative Perspectives” gallery shows what life was really like on Route 66 during the early 2000s.
“So this exhibition of Route 66 is decidedly not nostalgic,” Sokol said. “It really shows off the humanity of Route 66,” Sokol said. “A lot of what the country will be seeing in the next year are nostalgic, fun, cute, poppy scenes, but this exhibition brings a little more reality, gritty back story
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It features two artists. One is Wes Pope, who used pinhole exposure with soda cans to capture his images.
The other is Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer Edward Keating.
His daughter, Catherine Keating, said this gallery showcases a decade’s worth of photography, featuring 66 images that focus on real people.
“Sometimes it’s really hard to look at the truth, and we steer away from it, but I think that’s the stuff we should care about,” Catherine said. “This is our country, you know, he documented a really important time in history.”
Edward died in 2021, but Catherine said that for this to be presented in Flagstaff would mean the world to him, as he also experienced real life on 66.
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“He had a major drinking problem,” she said. “He woke up one morning in Flagstaff and just realized he had hit rock bottom, and it was there in Flagstaff that he decided to rebuild his life.
She said he father’s legacy lives on when people look at his pictures and the real side of Route 66.
“He just documented how they lived their lives, and I think that’s just a really rare thing to see,” Catherine said. “So I just encourage people to really process that, and I think a lot of people see themselves in these photographs, too.
For those interested in viewing this gallery, it’s open from Wednesday through Saturday and will remain on display until September 27.
Entry fee is an optional donation; the exhibit is free for children.
To learn more about the art center, visit their website here. Find more information on Edward Keating here.
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