Neon equates to Nevada, not only along the Las Vegas Strip, but down quiet, two-lane rural roads punctuated by a neon sign—those glistening beacons that represent Nevada’s unique civilization created in its vast Great Basin deserts. For forty years, with my partner Sheila Swan, I’ve documented with words and photographs neon’s role in the boom-bust Nevada culture The argon violets, krypton purples, helium golds, and xenon blues that glow amidst the nighttime desert sky enjoy a contemporary appreciated renaissance after years of decay—neon is now the official state element. Nevada neon is not just a medium for casino advertising. The colorful images of cowboys and cowgirls, animals, desert landscapes, and a myriad of other creative designs all illuminate its version of Americana. The neon sign helps define Nevada and its businesses, from bars and casinos to the stores, restaurants, motels, and theaters that line the streets of the Battle Born Silver State’s cities and towns, and those rural areas that are barely a blip on the map. With striking full-color photographs and fascinating historical commentary, our study celebrates an art form that wholly embraces the state’s unique built personality. Skyhorse Publishing is publishing our book in 2024, a book that—as does this proposed participation in the Barcelona conference— explores the resurgence of neon during the last decade as both a commercial device and as an art form—an element of the created environment that now will never fade, a medium as distinctive and interesting as Nevada itself.
Journalist and professor Peter Laufer reports on borders, identities, and migration along with the relationships of humans to other animals. His NBC News documentary on Americans in prisons received the James Polk Award and his journalism has won a plethora of prizes. His books include studies of the Mexican-U.S. frontier crises and a natural history quartet that looks at turtles, butterflies, exotic pets, and animal abuse. He is researching and writing O Say Can We See: Two Extraordinary Decades based on his cross-America trips immediately after 9/11, and 10 and 20 years later.
Sheila Swan learned photography as a hands-on-in-the-darkroom assistant in her father’s portrait studio. She joined the Nevada Craft Guild shortly after it was founded and developed her lifelong relationship with neon studying it as she lived amongst it. He books include Safety and Security for Women Who Travel (Travelers Tales, publisher).