I love airport exhibits because they are often very philosophical. An airport is a typical liminal space where you are in between different parts of your life, and this makes it the perfect place to think.
The Lambert St Louis airport has a photo exhibit that follows a real-life mystery. A cache of old photos was found at an estate sale in St Charles, MO. It featured a couple that, in the 1950s, traveled the world in a way that few people traveled back then. The photographer who found the cache placed them online and asked people to help him find out the identity of the missing couple. Who were they? Do they have any descendants? And why was the evidence of their unusual lives discarded like this?
Internet sleuths pored over the images and finally identified the adventurous couple. The final image of the exhibit features a terse message that solves the mystery.
“Hi. I’m their niece. I sold the photos at an estate sale” the message states.
The exhibit offers a very definitive answer to the question that rages on social media these days. Is it worth giving up on progeny to be able to travel more? The sadness of Harry and Edna’s discarded existence is answer enough.
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