Attracted by America’s spaces, mythology and iconography, intrigued by the fascination and animosity it has been sparking since the end of the colonial era, I have been photographing the country’s landscapes and meeting its inhabitants for nearly twenty years. Together, the resulting works form the series American Narratives, an epic account that has been presented at festivals, fairs and galleries and documented in the publications Angel and Country Limit. Several photographs from the series have been acquired by the Bibliothèque nationale de France and Neuflize OBC Foundation.

 

The term “experience photography” best defines my work: experiences with people and places, with nature, shapes and colors. It describes a free, sensory-based approach that merges wandering thoughts, personal encounters and documentary study.

 

My projects are inspired by the New Topographics movement, questioning the balance between civilization and nature, and the role of landscape in America. More broadly, my work about America is interested in the social and human frailty of individuals, the deliquescence of the material world, the passage of time and how it affects this young nation, and the discreet surrealism of the ordinary.

 

Two of my projects focus on Alaska and Hawaii, two states that are underrepresented in the American documentary tradition. In 2019, the Centre national des arts plastiques (Cnap) supported my work Las Vegas Topographics, which looks at the state of the desert on the edges of the city of Las Vegas.

 

Ronan Guillou