John Divola works at the intersection of photography, conceptual art, and performance, using the camera not simply as a recording device but as a tool for intervention. His work often stages encounters between human gesture and abandoned or transitional spaces, revealing traces of history, presence, and absence. By marking, painting, or otherwise altering interiors before photographing them, Divola transforms sites of decay into charged visual fields, where entropy and creation exist side by side. Central to his practice is the tension between order and disorder, beauty and destruction, intimacy and distance—capturing how environments bear the marks of time and human activity. His work unfolds through several trajectories. On one side, Divola documents derelict buildings and desert landscapes, transforming neglected spaces into sites of artistic experimentation. These photographs emphasize impermanence, the poetics of ruin, and the fragility of habitation. On the other, he stages direct interventions—spraying paint, scattering objects, or inscribing walls—gestures that blur the line between evidence and artwork. By collapsing documentary and performative approaches, Divola highlights photography’s dual capacity to both reveal and fabricate reality. His practice ultimately reflects on how we perceive the world in states of transition, turning overlooked spaces into meditations on memory, time, and the human imprint. ...
