Spina Americana (American Spine) is book recently published (GOST, 2024), whose aim is to highlight the individual aspects of one of the most overlooked geographical areas in the country. Using mostly environmental portraiture with found participants, the goal is to create an American document that adds to the overall discussion of cultural landscapes and their effects within contemporary American history.
The Central U.S. is often assumed to be a desolate, uninteresting part of the nation. In the American vernacular, “flyover country” is often used to define this massive swath of land, assuming that none of the people, cultures, or landscapes are worth notation. There is a vast spectrum of individuals and cultures that live within this “spine”, including Native Americans, Mennonites, Hispanics and many others. In showing aspects of daily life, I plan on equalizing the positions of mechanics, surgeons, police officers, prisoners, exotic dancers, migrant laborers etc. as all contributing factors to what defines this part of the country, and its role in the future of our nation.
I do this simply as an American who sees this country at a level of division not witnessed since the late 1850’s, and as one who believes that through the power of observation, divisions can be seen as superficial to a cohesive bond between people. I am not alone in this national anxiety.
As a former proponent of “conflict imagery” as a means of ending conflict, I have grown to understand that this formula no longer works as the best strategy towards preventing conflict. Instead of using tragedy and suffering as a unifying element, my goal aims to be a higher one. The work provided in the examples for the application are solely from this project as it has been worked on thus far, and reflect my general philosophy towards photography as an anvil for activism, as well as an opening argument for a new direction in the theory for collective empathy.
