Photographer Mikayla Whitmore pulls apart the magic, demons, and relics of a loaded landscape. 

Some of Nevada's most common clichés are casinos, the grand canyon, and problematic HBO series. Photo-historically, Nevada and California's landscapes often tie to the canon of American photographers set to document and preserve their wild terrain.

For Whitmore, a Las Vegas native, its history is wrapped in b-movies, Hollywood tropes, and all kinds of colorful magic, but is also tainted by our current political climate. 

Her recent series There Is No Right Time mixes straightforward topographical scenes with attention to inconsequential details that serve as unexpected monuments. In one image, a strange billboard juts from desert dirt to stark blue sky – the peculiarity of natural and human-made shinning on its own. In another, a rusty metal barrel with the words "Jesus is Coming" sits in the center of the frame. In Whitmore's words, these images "amplify mementos of American values by way of isolation and freedom."

What exactly are these relics of American values? I spoke with Whitmore to learn more.

Interview by Jon Feinstein