Norton exhibit follows artistic twists and turns of U.S. 1

The journey of Russian-born photographer Anastasia Samoylova sheds light on America.

A highway stands solid next to the ghost of a school building in Jacksonville. 

Chipped paint and a faded awning protect a car from the elements in North Carolina. 

Guards stand at attention, their bearing indicating their importance in Washington, D.C. 

These photos by Anastasia Samoylova follow the path taken by documentarian photographer Berenice Abbott, who traveled America’s oldest interstate highway, U.S. Route 1 from Maine to Florida, in 1954.

In the hands of Samoylova, 41, a Russian transplant to the United States, the road becomes a tool to shed light on the country as a whole. 

Samoylova’s exhibit, “Atlantic Coast,” will be on display Nov. 15 through March 1 at the Norton Museum of Art in West Palm Beach.

Samoylova’s work captures the cadavers of American industrial buildings and portraits of the people who live nearby to update Abbott’s vision of America.

In a response to questions from Stet News, Samoylova, who lives in Miami, said Abbott’s work moved her deeply. Abbott was mostly known for her images of early 20th century cultural icons and New York City architecture. Her Route 1 photographs received little attention, but they held great meaning for Samoylova.

“What struck me wasn’t nostalgia or optimism but Abbott’s clarity, her understanding that the new Interstate Highway System would forever alter the social and visual fabric of the United States,” Samoylova said. “Her project wasn’t about progress but about consequence.”

Samoylova traveled and photographed Route 1 in reverse of Abbott, driving from Florida to Maine. She traveled between 2020 and 2025, a time of tumultuous change. 

She said she also drew inspiration from Saidiya Hartman’s book, “Lose Your Mother.” It reframes travel through displacement and historical memory. 

“It made me realize that the American road, especially Route 1, isn’t just about freedom of movement,” Samoylova said. “It’s also a site of erasure, migration and belonging, a road lined with forgotten histories.”

The road to get here

Samoylova ruminates on storytelling through setting.

In her 2023 exhibit, “Image Cities,” Samoylova focused on the media landscape’s effect on urban areas. The 17 cities that she photographed show how a commercialized global culture obscures individual, localized culture.

For “Floridas,” which closed in May at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art, the museum paired her work with photos by Walker Evans, an influential photographer and photojournalist documenting America in the early 20th century.

“Floridas” featured photographs, postcards and paintings of various Florida icons. It was “about a state of mind, this paradoxical place that’s both paradise and warning,” Samoylova said.

She said MET curator Mia Fineman told her she believed “Floridas” spoke to Evans’ vision of America during the Great Depression and through World War II. Evans and Samoylova saw Florida as a place of extreme brutality and profound beauty, of political extremism and cultural contradiction.

Norton curator Lauren Richman helped Samoylova piece together the story of America through her journey along Route 1. 

“At The Met, I was in conversation with history; at the Norton, I’m in conversation with the present steeped in sometimes misguided nostalgia,” Samoylova said.

Florida itself

Samoylova described Florida as “a place where the American imagination rehearses itself,” a preview for the nation as a whole. 

Following the oldest highway in America, Samoylova witnessed the universal nature of Florida’s stories of beauty and decay. The mythos of American culture, as it changes over time, is something that each person holds differently.

Samoylova’s photography includes an individual’s relationship with the nation. 

Historical reenactors and vintage storefront decorations preserve history.

A scarf patterned with stars and stripes drapes around the person wearing a jeweled ring shaped like a gun. 

No picture is meant to be the whole story of America but to be one piece against a nation of stories.

Samoylova moved to Florida from Russia in 2016, and photography became a way for her to find a place within her new environment. 

“Photography isn’t just about what’s visible; it’s a tool for understanding where you are and how you belong, or don’t,” she said.

U.S. 1 becomes the lens that Samoylova looks through to investigate people’s relationships with their surroundings, piecing together personal moments into a larger story of the country.

Recent acclaim

Samoylova’s work has gained recognition in recent years. 

It is available at museums worldwide, including the Museum of Modern Art and The Metropolitan  Museum of Art in New York City, the Perez Art Museum in Miami, the High Museum of Art in Atlanta and the Museum of Contemporary Photography in Chicago.

She doesn’t seem particularly impacted, though. 

“I think of it less as a reward and more as encouragement — to keep looking, to stay responsive to the world, to move forward without repeating myself. The real accomplishment isn’t the attention; it’s being able to continue,” she said.

At the Norton, “Atlantic Coast” will share an opening with “Inside Outside,” highlighting the surrealist paintings of Shara Hughes. 

It will be on display until March 1. Samoylova will be available for an Artist Talk at the Norton on Nov. 21.

The Norton is open daily, except Tuesday, from 10 am to 5 pm. General tickets are $18, with discounts for seniors and students. Members, children under 12, active military, veterans and Florida teachers receive free admission. West Palm Beach residents can enter for free on Saturdays.