AA-2026-874C2D
On the image
She has climbed halfway up a bare, rubble-strewn slope to collect two rocks, and she holds them out for the camera the way other tourists of the decade held out seashells or postcards. The 1960s came with a widespread and largely unexamined belief that any interesting landscape owed you a piece of itself, and a barren volcanic or mining slope like this one was simply nature's gift shop, free of charge and open all hours.
Her outfit argues she did not plan on climbing anything. The zip-front shirtdress and zebra-print belt belong to an afternoon of sightseeing, not fieldwork, and the low shoes now full of grit suggest the slope was a spontaneous detour rather than the day's intended destination. Someone in the car evidently said, 'just a quick look,' and this is the quick look, forty minutes later.
The hillside behind her, all loose gray stone and no vegetation to speak of, is the kind of terrain people in this era treated as scenery rather than geology, unbothered by questions of stability or origin. She smiles at the camera with the rocks held up like evidence of a successful expedition, though the slope will look exactly the same after she leaves as it did before she arrived.
Visually related — by likeness
Woman with Souvenir Stones on a Scree Slope, 1960s. 1960–1969. Archive & Atlas, Historical Image Library, AA-2026-874C2D. https://thearchive.archiveandatlas.com/library/woman-with-souvenir-stones-on-a-scree-slope-1960s.
@misc{aaAA2026874C2D,
title = {Woman with Souvenir Stones on a Scree Slope, 1960s},
year = {1960–1969},
howpublished = {Archive \& Atlas, Historical Image Library},
note = {Accession AA-2026-874C2D},
url = {https://thearchive.archiveandatlas.com/library/woman-with-souvenir-stones-on-a-scree-slope-1960s}
}TY - ART TI - Woman with Souvenir Stones on a Scree Slope, 1960s PY - 1960–1969 PB - Archive & Atlas, Historical Image Library AN - AA-2026-874C2D UR - https://thearchive.archiveandatlas.com/library/woman-with-souvenir-stones-on-a-scree-slope-1960s ER -
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