Joakim Eskildsen
1) During several months Danish photographer Joakim
Eskildsen traveled to the most poverty- stricken (according
to census data) neighborhoods of the United States in New York, California,
Louisiana, South Dakota and Georgia. He started photographing poor people as an
assignment for TIME magazine and the assignment grow into the book called “American
realities”. In his work the artist uses only natural light and a tripod.
2) What started as an assignment has become an
important part of the life of this artist. Besides the United States he has
visited other countries photographing people and the conditions they live
in. According to Eskildsen his series of
photographs are not a critique of the individuals leaving in precarious
conditions but a critique of the system. The artist says that the American
Dream doesn’t exist anymore. The system is wrong. He also noted a big
difference between the experiences of recently settled immigrants compared with
long-established Americans. Some of the
Americans leaving in certain places for several generations were not only poor
in terms of money, but also food culture and culture in general.
3) I
like how the photographer tries to show that part of American life that is
often not obvious. We are born to a certain social class and in many cases it
defines what kind of life we might have and what we will see around us. That’s
why we need someone to show us another perspective on the world that might be
hidden. He shows us how people are surviving, being proud of America, but at
the same time blaming it for not being able to or not wanting to provide them with
a better life conditions.
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