i am trying to understand for myself why this image is so much more "artful" than the images in this series of just the motels with essentially the same framing (but different point of focus, of course). And I suspect that if it were a true mashup of both - - that is, the minimalist presentation of the motel (which is itself minimalist architecture) and the portrait - - I would be really excited and not on the fence at all with respect to the work's relevance beyond documentary value or illustration of the motels themselves.

This particular subject, the woman, is so well brought out by whatever the photographer did or did not do in interactions with the her. She is so complete as a character that if you were to blink, you could easily believe she was Shirley McClain playing a part!