I am struck by this image by Isaac Brekken recently pub­lished (arti­cle) along­side an arti­cle about early voting in the US elec­tions by the New York Times. The arti­cle by Jen­nifer Stein­hauer looks at early voting in the US and includes other photos by mul­ti­ple pho­tog­ra­phers. On top of being a fan­tas­tic photo aes­thet­i­cally, the com­plex­ity it shows so clearly is fas­ci­nat­ing.

What it seems to reveal is the at times blunt pair­ing of cap­i­tal­ism, mate­ri­al­ism and democ­racy in the United States. In the same space you can shop, cast your early vote, and then step over to the slot machines to try your luck. It is of course in Las Vegas, which has a dis­tinct legal and com­mer­cial envi­ron­ment, but it forces so many ques­tions to the sur­face about the cul­ture of this place and the United States in gen­eral. Is this what we want in our soci­eties? That democ­racy and the right to vote becomes a banal­ity only facil­i­tated through com­mer­cial space? It high­lights that for many people, the idea of a public, civic space that guides a demo­c­ra­tic and polit­i­cal process has been com­pletely eroded. The gov­ern­ment no longer has wide­spread rep­re­sen­ta­tion through archi­tec­ture and urban space, but rather is hidden within the vast net­work of pri­va­tized and com­mer­cial­ized envi­ron­ments sprawl­ing across the coun­try. With­out a White House, and the state leg­is­la­ture build­ings, what would be left of civic space?

It is worth look­ing at Brekken’s other images. He is based in Las Vegas and covers the (what one could con­sider super­fi­cial) things that absorb the city.