Perfect Place

My project attempts to reveal and shed light on the current American socio-political moment through a visual investigation of the country’s heartland. There are two key questions at the heart of my analysis. First, what is the meaning of freedom, and second, what does it mean to be an American today? These questions have been taken up by photographers and philosophers alike, with notable projects being Robert Frank’s The Americans or Jean Baudrillard’s America. While these questions have been approached before, the current socio-political climate in America marks a critical juncture in its path to the future. By integrating an image-based and empathy-based approach to research, this project aims to resist the pernicious polarization regarding national identity in the United States.