Drawing the Moon | 2015-Present

In the years 1894 and 1895, the city of Austin, Texas erected 31 “moonlight towers”. These street lamps were popular across the United States at the end of the 19th Century, and because of their 165-foot elevation, were seen as an efficient source of light (and an adjacent sense of public safety) in cities such as St. Louis, Oakland, Detroit and New Orleans. The height and luminance of the carbon arc lamps remarkably mimicked the effect of full-moon light, giving them their name. 

Today, 17 of Austin’s lamps are still standing. Now illuminated by LED lights; they are the only remaining moonlight towers in America. Drawing the Moon describes the city as illuminated by this anomalous light source. Exposure times of 15 to 90 minutes render a city transformed by this delicate artificial light – the light of the 19th century. Through this window, I imagine what has changed (and what has not), as the city struggles to maintain its identity in the face of development, displacement, and cultural erasure. Considering the light itself as a kind of witness, these photographs examine Austin as a site shaped by technology, ambition, rampant gentrification, and human imagination.