Dallas Fair Park: Art Deco Forever

In the early 1970’s I ventured to Egypt to study Islamic Art and Architecture at the American University of Cairo and was transformed
into a photographer. I was captivated by not only the famous Cairo Fatimid and Mamluk Mosques, but the Coptic, Pharaonic and Roman
sites throughout the land. For the next thirty years I continued travels to photograph Middle Eastern ancient sites–always inspired by the visual
record of our past, awestruck by the monumentality and grandeur of man’s achievement.

When I returned to the United States, I moved to Dallas, Texas, where I bought a home and settled in for the future. I had no idea what wonders
lurked in my own backyard.

Right here in Dallas, I found my very own temple complex— to my eyes, one just as beautiful as the famous mostly New Kingdom Karnak Temple
complex in Thebes, Egypt–the art deco monument to Texas called Fair Park. Turns out they are actually related. Howard Carter’s discovery of
the intact tomb of King Tutankhamun in Egypt in 1922 stimulated Egypto-mania throughout the western world—as it became essential
component of the Art Deco movement.

The pure geometric forms found in the esplanade corridor, the colossi, the pylons, the reliefs, and the great buildings–especially the magical
Hall of State–thrilled my sensibilities and impressed me with its grandeur and masterful completeness. I visited Fair Park often to learn
the light and to this day have never grown tired of seeing what I hadn’t noticed before, and making new imagery.

Perhaps I love Fair Park because I was born the same year as the Texas Centennial, for which the many buildings were built. Maybe I love Fair
Park because it reminds me of those majestic Egyptian temples. It might just be that I love it because it is a masterpiece of Art Deco Style infused
with Texas dynamism, imagination and craftsmanship.