Michael Massaia’s series, Lost in the Glittering Gulch, documents a fragile and vanishing segment of Las Vegas, focusing on the historic northern blocks from the older, rougher residential area all the way to the interstate. The work captures the final remnants of this worn corridor that is currently facing demolition and replacement by uniform, saccharine development. Utilizing his meticulous large-format process, Massaia elevates these overlooked spaces into evocative studies of profound melancholy. The series is driven by the emotional experience of finding beauty in the urban contrast—the feeling that the authentic, gritty character, where the sour and the sweet exist “feet apart,” is both intensely compelling and heartbreakingly temporary.
