This selection of photographs is part of a larger project that I now call Taxonomy of a Landscape. It began in 2000 and is comprised of several bodies of work – individual chapters – each of which documents specific aspects of the American landscape. My work is a response to my larger search about the mythic American ideals of opportunity, prosperity and success. The questions that evolved from my travels across the country became more focused as I examined the landscape for concrete signs of the myths.
This contemporary American landscape tells a conflicted story in geographical, economic, political and cultural terms. The work that I produce hopefully allows viewers their own notions and meanings including questions about landscape, our place within it, and the collective roles and responsibilities in how and why we shape it the way we do.