Quintessentially 20th Century, utterly urban, neon signage is a seducer full of promise and bright life. Which is why I was fascinated to stumble across Laura Domela's photo exploration of a neon graveyard in the Nevada desert. Domela isolates the transformative power of beauty implict in these objects which endures and survives their demise. Keen attention to form and composition traces the essence of this process:

"The Neon Boneyard is a 3-acre lot filled with non-restored historic signage from the city of Las Vegas. For Las Vegas, these signs embody the character and personality of the city. Once flashy, bright, beacons of celebrity, designed to lure and entice, they now fade and peel under the desert sun, stacked in a locked, dirt-floored lot. Although these signs were carefully and deliberately designed and crafted, I set out to capture in my photographs the unintentional evolution of that design...the chance arrangement of unrelated signs, how the paint has weathered, the way the neon tubes and bulbs have twisted and broken over the years or been replaced with non-identical matches. The contradictions inherent in the Boneyard are the same kinds of contradictions I try to capture in all of my work."