K Taka: No Incoming Calls

October 2-November 1

In No Incoming Calls, photographer K Taka explores a vanishing relic of public life: the pay phone. For many generations before the advent of cell phones, pay phones were a crucial part of life. In varying states of entropy, pay phones continue to stand as a reminder of how we used to connect.

They also offer a glimpse into how different cultures value accessible communication: in the United States, pay phones tend to serve as opportunities for vandalism and a stark image of capitalism at work, while countries such as Japan and Thailand still consider them viable means of communication worthy of care. Whatever value pay phones carry, they offer a unique glimpse into the urban and rural landscape that each phone resides. Some offer a story of desolation and the “last chance” at communication, others offer a palette for the artist to recreate the phone into their own creation.

K. Taka has been photographing pay phones since 2012, cataloguing over 280 pay phones across eight states, three countries, and counting. The project started in Coupeville, Washington, and has since inspired many interesting conversations about the history of and nostalgic uses of pay phones.