It’s the late 1970s, and America’s economy is recovering rapidly from the crash of 1973. In Los Angeles, photographersets out to document the wealth and power concentrated in a small number of prestigious companies. Among them is the multi-billion dollar Bank of America and the international oil company Atlantic Richfield .
Ressler’s approach captures this brutal reality in a matter-of-fact manner; a topographical study of the modern American business domain. Yet, unwilling to identify with it, Ressler is careful to maintain an ironic distance from her subject matter. Whether it’s of a man holding up a piece of equipment or of a model airplane standing on top of a marble counter, each photograph signals that it is carefully and deliberately staged.