Architect/writer Alvin Boyarsky has described O’Hare Airport as Chicago’s Versailles. Between 1984 and 1988 I photographed O’Hare as an unexplored urban landscape, in this case, a midwestern prairie adapted to accommodate air travel. My objective was to explore this large tract of land (larger than the city of Chicago itself) that was usually experienced either from the air or from a runway travelling at high speeds. Using my view camera at ground level I was interested in the abrupt transition between the densely populated terminals and the edges of the airfield that included picturesque wooded areas inhabited only by wildlife. Two years into the project I began to work with Larry Viskochil, Curator of Photography at the Chicago History Museum (CHM) on an exhibition. In 1989, O’Hare Airport: Airfield on the Prairie, opened at the CHM with an accompanying catalogue. The exhibition of 103 chromogenic prints, along with additional images not included in the show, were acquired by the CHM for the Prints and Photographs Collection.