synopsis
In 'Sons of the Living' - which he worked on for ten years - Bryan Schutmaat shows intimate portraits of hitchhikers and drifters living along the American highways, alternated with landscapes and still lifes of a country in decline.
Schutmaat finds his portrait subjects by offering hitchhikers a ride or introducing himself to people at makeshift campsites along the highway. He photographs them with a cumbersome large-format camera that requires him to work slowly, leaving plenty of time to form a bond with the subjects.
In his formative years, Schutmaat lived near Houston where he saw how the city's growth came at the expense of the landscape. He was disturbed by how forests were being cut down to make room for ever-expanding suburbs, shopping centers and parking lots.
Culturally and historically, the American West is synonymous with the American Dream, as the land of limitless possibilities. A country that, as a result of human industry, is edging dangerously close to the edge of the abyss.
Schutmaat poetically shows us the effects of global warming, increasing income inequality and economic uncertainty and the threat of nuclear warfare in the days when a reality TV star became president of the US.
Although 'Sons of the Living' is about America, Schutmaat ultimately wants to tell a universally appealing story about the dilemmas humanity faces. The seemingly insurmountable problems that threaten the viability of our planet and the inner battle between hope and despair that is waged in the hearts of all who are victims or witnesses to the torments of our unjust world.
Schutmaat is guided by curiosity on his wanderings. He prefers to concentrate on the interface between wilderness and civilization. There he photographs the eternal battle between man and nature. With his landscape photos he portrays the consequences of waste, irresponsible soil exploitation and humanity's disastrous intervention on the ecology. Photography as a medium to bring about a cultural change. In that sense, Schutmaat fits in the tradition of committed photographers such as Lewis Baltz, Robert Adams, Robert Frank, W. Eugene Smith and Dorothea Lange.
photos of the book
technical information
publisher : Trespasser
2024
188 pages
90 photos
hardback
dimensions : 30 x 37 cm
2024
188 pages
90 photos
hardback
dimensions : 30 x 37 cm
about Bryan Schutmaat
Bryan Schutmaat is a photographer based in Austin, Texas whose work has been widely exhibited and published. He has won numerous awards, including a John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Fellowship, the Aperture Portfolio Prize, and an Aaron Siskind Fellowship. Bryan’s prints are held in many collections, such as Baltimore Museum of Art, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Pier 24 Photography, Rijksmuseum, and San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. He co-founded the imprint, Trespasser.
more information
book in my collection
publisher : Trespasser
2024 (1st edition)
signed
2024 (1st edition)
signed