Photographed for the New Yorker.

American, a word which can be proudly bellowed, uttered maliciously, whispered disapprovingly.  Few single words across this land have an equivalent power to unite or divide.  American Dreamscape, is an essay produced on two wheels from ocean to ocean, across mountains and open prairie, searching for the common threads that coalesce the American community.  Dreamscape explores the gap between cultural ambitions and the often diminished realities of everyday American life.  It inquires into the shared mythology of heading west, pioneering a frontier while carving out individual identities that when combined, create one people.  

The content is inspired by a feeling that my cultural background has given me a unique perspective on what it means to be American.  Some of my first memories are from crossing the open plains with my family in an old VW bus, headed out west.  Its a scene that has played itself out repeatedly throughout our American History, whether it be in a wagon train or an old model-T Ford.  Its a uniquely American experience that still visits me in my dreams.  

In Dreamscape, I wanted to re-create how I feel in my dreams while bridging the gap between the American reality and American Dreams.