At The Grounds for Sculpture in Hamilton, NJ, USA, is a life-sized outdoor "scenic" sculpture installation called "The Depression Bread Line" by George Segal, 1999. Many people have visited this sculpture over the years. Sometimes they take pictures of it, sometimes sticking one or more members of their group in line with the sculptured men. It's always fun to watch these proceedings. "Stand there, at the end." "No, I think it'd be better to stand here at the front of the line." And so forth.

I, too, have fallen under the spell of this scene and have made many images from many different angles and at different times of the year. I made the above image in January, 2008. I feel that since the men all have overcoats and hats on and most have their hands stuck in their pockets, that this scene with snow on the ground is most appropriate for the time of year which the sculptor intended this to portray.

Recently I've been thinking of all the people in the USA, as well as in other parts of the world, who are jobless and even homeless and who are now having to wait in lines at soup kitchens and other such facilities. So I've come back to this sculpture to help me focus my thoughts and questions I have about our modern world of 2008, which seems to be heading for another great depression like the one we endured during the 1930s. What have we learned and not learned in 70-plus years?

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