Norton exhibit follows creative twists and turns of U.S. 1

The journey of Russian-born photographer Anastasia Samoylova sheds mild on America.

A freeway stands stable subsequent to the ghost of a college constructing in Jacksonville. 

Chipped paint and a light awning defend a automobile from the weather in North Carolina. 

Guards stand at consideration, their bearing indicating their significance in Washington, D.C. 

These photographs by Anastasia Samoylova observe the trail taken by documentarian photographer Berenice Abbott, who traveled America’s oldest interstate freeway, U.S. Route 1 from Maine to Florida, in 1954.

In the arms of Samoylova, 41, a Russian transplant to the United States, the street turns into a instrument to make clear the nation as a complete. 

Samoylova’s exhibit, “Atlantic Coast,” shall be on show Nov. 15 by way of March 1 on the Norton Museum of Art in West Palm Beach.

Samoylova’s work captures the cadavers of American industrial buildings and portraits of the individuals who reside close by to replace Abbott’s imaginative and prescient of America.

In a response to questions from Stet News, Samoylova, who lives in Miami, mentioned Abbott’s work moved her deeply. Abbott was largely recognized for her pictures of early twentieth century cultural icons and New York City structure. Her Route 1 photographs obtained little consideration, however they held nice which means for Samoylova.

“What struck me wasn’t nostalgia or optimism but Abbott’s clarity, her understanding that the new Interstate Highway System would forever alter the social and visual fabric of the United States,” Samoylova mentioned. “Her project wasn’t about progress but about consequence.”

Samoylova traveled and photographed Route 1 in reverse of Abbott, driving from Florida to Maine. She traveled between 2020 and 2025, a time of tumultuous change. 

She mentioned she additionally drew inspiration from Saidiya Hartman’s book, “Lose Your Mother.” It reframes journey by way of displacement and historic reminiscence. 

“It made me realize that the American road, especially Route 1, isn’t just about freedom of movement,” Samoylova mentioned. “It’s also a site of erasure, migration and belonging, a road lined with forgotten histories.”

The street to get right here

Samoylova ruminates on storytelling by way of setting.

In her 2023 exhibit, “Image Cities,” Samoylova centered on the media panorama’s impact on city areas. The 17 cities that she photographed present how a commercialized international tradition obscures particular person, localized tradition.

For “Floridas,” which closed in May at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art, the museum paired her work with photographs by Walker Evans, an influential photographer and photojournalist documenting America within the early twentieth century.

“Floridas” featured pictures, postcards and work of assorted Florida icons. It was “about a state of mind, this paradoxical place that’s both paradise and warning,” Samoylova mentioned.

She mentioned MET curator Mia Fineman informed her she believed “Floridas” spoke to Evans’ imaginative and prescient of America through the Great Depression and thru World War II. Evans and Samoylova noticed Florida as a spot of utmost brutality and profound magnificence, of political extremism and cultural contradiction.

Norton curator Lauren Richman helped Samoylova piece collectively the story of America by way of her journey alongside Route 1. 

“At The Met, I was in conversation with history; at the Norton, I’m in conversation with the present steeped in sometimes misguided nostalgia,” Samoylova mentioned.

Florida itself

Samoylova described Florida as “a place where the American imagination rehearses itself,” a preview for the nation as a complete. 

Following the oldest freeway in America, Samoylova witnessed the common nature of Florida’s tales of magnificence and decay. The mythos of American tradition, because it modifications over time, is one thing that every individual holds in a different way.

Samoylova’s pictures contains a person’s relationship with the nation. 

Historical reenactors and classic storefront decorations protect historical past.

A shawl patterned with stars and stripes drapes across the individual sporting a jeweled ring formed like a gun. 

No image is supposed to be the entire story of America however to be one piece towards a nation of tales.

Samoylova moved to Florida from Russia in 2016, and pictures grew to become a method for her to discover a place inside her new setting. 

“Photography isn’t just about what’s visible; it’s a tool for understanding where you are and how you belong, or don’t,” she mentioned.

U.S. 1 turns into the lens that Samoylova seems to be by way of to analyze folks’s relationships with their environment, piecing collectively private moments into a bigger story of the nation.

Recent acclaim

Samoylova’s work has gained recognition lately. 

It is out there at museums worldwide, together with the Museum of Modern Art and The Metropolitan  Museum of Art in New York City, the Perez Art Museum in Miami, the High Museum of Art in Atlanta and the Museum of Contemporary Photography in Chicago.

She doesn’t appear significantly impacted, although. 

“I think of it less as a reward and more as encouragement — to keep looking, to stay responsive to the world, to move forward without repeating myself. The real accomplishment isn’t the attention; it’s being able to continue,” she mentioned.

At the Norton, “Atlantic Coast” will share a gap with “Inside Outside,” highlighting the surrealist work of Shara Hughes. 

It shall be on show till March 1. Samoylova shall be accessible for an Artist Talk at the Norton on Nov. 21.

The Norton is open each day, besides Tuesday, from 10 am to five pm. General tickets are $18, with reductions for seniors and college students. Members, kids underneath 12, energetic army, veterans and Florida lecturers obtain free admission. West Palm Beach residents can enter without cost on Saturdays.