If destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of freemen we will live forever, or die by suicide.
—Abraham Lincoln, 1838
Spina Americana, my study of a very narrow corridor of the central United States, was born with violence on the mind and trepidation in the heart.
I decided to focus my attention on a 100-mile-wide path of land, 50 miles east/west of the geographic center. It runs vertically from Mexico to Canada, traversing the spine of the United States, as an independent and unique feature that deserves its own examination, where most of its occupants have been ignored politically, socially, and culturally for many decades. The commonly used expression for this area is “flyover country”, which denotes a land of banality and unimportance, culturally and otherwise.
This series reflects my general philosophy towards photography as an anvil for activism, as well as my opening argument for a new direction in the hope for a more collective and persistent empathy. As Americans, our duty, I believe, is to always remember that in the end, the only thing holding the line between our honour and the windblown dust of a collapsed empire, is us. My hope is that this work and the work that is to come, will serve as a call to action for individuals convinced they are powerless against the forces actively opposing this very kind of national cohesiveness.
Love (without prerequisite) has been endlessly shown as a powerful force; it only requires a sense of duty, proper action and the will to initiate it.
