MFA student to take Route 66 research to national conference

Madison Garay, a third-year master's student at The University of New Mexico, has been chosen to present at the 2025 College Art Association Conference in Manhattan in February. Her presentation will cover her research into the iconic Mother Road, Route 66, as a historical and haunted monument in Albuquerque.

Garay's research interests are in Art History-Art of the Americas, 20th-century design, Native contemporary art, Chican@ art, and built environments of the Southwest. Her research at UNM focuses on transient spaces such as interstates and highways, place-making through material culture, and formulation of regional identities on historic Route 66 through the American Southwest. Garay is concerned with the internet space as a new facet in the visualization of geographic identity in the United States, and how it can platform communal archival projects.

The CAA Annual Conference is one of the largest gatherings of academic arts professionals in the world. Scholars from diverse fields like Art History, Architecture, Design, and Cultural Studies converge each year to share ideas and research.

Garay submitted independently as a solo scholar, and apparently her abstract caught the attention of the CAA committee. Her presentation, titled Visual Hauntologies on Albuquerque's Route 66: Place-Images after the Mother Road, will analyze the iconic highway and explore its cultural legacy in Albuquerque.

"I analyze the famous highway as a haunted monument in our city. In sum, I argue that Route 66 is a monument to the dominant 20th-century ideology, American Exceptionalism," she said. "Furthermore, Route 66 functions as a cultural specter on the contemporary New Mexican landscape, actively influencing historic preservation practices and images of civic identity in its afterlife. In this presentation, I expand on the many ways Route 66 emphasizes a nostalgic − and racially exclusive − conception of Americanness in this urbanscape that is rich with Hispanic and Native American cultural memory. Visual Hauntologies delves into a few case studies that involve architecture, photography, and performance. There is a complex discussion about cultural appropriation and visual extraction at hand, but it is embedded with a counternarrative of reclamation, resistance and visual sovereignty."
At the conference, Garay said, "I hope I get to meet other interdisciplinary scholars who are thinking about built environments and public 'art' like me, with an eye to the sociological consequences of our aesthetic choices."

As an art historian, Garay has been doing more reading and writing than art-making these days.

"However, I have been fortunate to have collaboration opportunities with MFA students and other art historians in shared spaces. Being surrounded by art studios encouraged my inner artist to re-emerge after some years of hibernation. Some might call me a 'creative scholar,' since my multimedia practices are heavily influenced by art historical theory and my current research. I just see creative expressions as a way for my brain to process the excess information and the feelings that come with the work of history… I grew up in ballet and theater, and I often spent time drawing in my sketchbook. I like to think of the public-facing facet of scholarship as a form of performance. After all, lecturing is very much like performing on stage. I strive to be the world's most engaging art historian."

Garay said she enjoys the UNM community that allows her to flourish.

"The people are down-to-earth, eager to collaborate, and unpretentious. I love that there is a lot of cross-disciplinary activity between CFA and other departments. That's given me a lot of room to grow."
Noting that UNM is an R1 university, the only R1 university on Route 66, and the only Hispanic-Serving Institution on Route 66, Garay said, "I'd like to think I embody both of these qualities about our university, being a Hispanic person with very high research activity. Go Lobos!"

Garay called her Route 66 research "a joy." Although most of it was done in books, she spent a lot of time at UNM's Center for Southwest Research, where she held a Pictorial Archives Fellowship in 2023-24, going through old newspapers, article drafts, maps, tourist guides, listening to interviews, and looking at original Zeon sign sketches.

"The Albuquerque Museum has been a great resource, too. Their postcard collection is incredible. However, there are a lot of gaps in institutional knowledge, so often I have to reach out to businesses or neighborhood associations to get more information. The Facebook group Albuquerque Memories, eBay, and of course, the physical highway itself are critical visual resources."

Garay will graduate in Spring 2025.

"I enjoy being a public historian and writing accessible material, so I'll continue to freelance for arts magazines and other publications," she said. "After UNM, I hope to land a curatorial position somewhere in the Southwest. Eventually, I would like to do a Ph.D., but for now, I want to get my knowledge out in the world."

"Madison is presenting her work at the College Art Association's annual conference, and it's very rare for students at the master of Arts level to be invited to participate and share their work. It's a testament to Madison's talent and the quality of her UNM education that she will be traveling to New York City in February," said Kevin Mulhearn, assistant professor of Art History.

Photo: Madison Garay at the old State Line Motel in Glenrio, N.M., by UNM alumnus, filmmaker, and photographer Dominic Valdez, 2024.