Captured along a mountain road of continual switch-backs and treacherous hairpin turns, our image shows a homemade memorial — in itself a creative still life, arranged on a slope descending steeply toward the pavement. The shrine contains rich information about its subject, Dean, alive on our planet from the year 1956 until 2011, when he died near this spot below Quartz Mountain, Arizona. I examined the artifacts thoroughly and found nothing to inform us about mode and detail regarding Dean’s destruction; nevertheless trauma seems the likely cause, thrown by a horse or motorcycle, or dead after plunging in a truck into the ravines below. There is no memory of his death here; only signs and symbols pointing to the apparently connected and colorful life he lived.

I have the impression a woman — perhaps the love of Dean’s comparatively short life — arranged this motif and added its abundant foreground packed with bright, weather-proof flowers. A rod curved into a permanent semi-circle now rusted frames the picture from above. We see a cowboy hat characteristically warped, a Hoppy Refresher bottle, and empty cans once containing The King of Beers. It suggests Dean spent his days outdoors in masculine pursuits associated in some way with ranching. A Christian cross forms the spine of the composition, fabricated from metal, scarred and distressed prior to receiving engravings made with a rotary tool. Photographs in plastic sleeves celebrate family: brothers, children, images from group journeys portraying exalted emotions. Beyond these pictures we find other objects also standing in for sentimental feelings — a pink bottle rocket adorned by stars; a stencil in the shape of a heart in whose interior we find eccentric fractal patterns; a canvas bracelet embroidered in pink letters spelling a girl’s name: Amy, with the further message, “I love U.”