There are many things that drive me, most of which I can’t quite put it into words. But there has always been one thing that sets the direction for my life and work – freedom.
My fuel comes from engaging with others, but the pandemic denied me that. In the Summer of 2020, I felt the need to reconnect, to put my craft to the test, instinctively, and on my own terms. While the world was still in disconcert, I saw the possibility of freedom, creative freedom. So I set out on a road trip, camera in hand, to explore my own identity and photograph people who were willing to share theirs with me – in front of my lens, open and fully vulnerable.
I traveled to Los Angeles to empty my apartment, pick up my car, and lay the groundwork for the expedition. It was there that I teamed up with my friend Kirill Myltsev, an accomplished filmmaker from Russia. Together, we decided to make a documentary that would accompany my photographic journey.
Our adventure commenced within the tight quarters of my candy-red Mini Cooper. What we initially thought would be a two-month tour stretched into nine months as we zig-zagged across America, engaging with gun shop owners, entertainers, law enforcement officials, activists, clergy, grieving mothers, immigrants and many, many others. Each person contributed their unique perspective to our driving questions around what it means and how it feels to live in America today.
The culmination of our journey, America Unfiltered: Portraits and Voices of a Nation, emerged as an anthology of my portraits and a documentary feature film that showcase the raw, unscripted, poignant exchanges we shared along the way.
By photographing in black and white, I hoped to eliminate distractions and focus solely on the essence of each person and moment. The portraits in this book are a selection of those made on the trip, inviting viewers to have a dialogue with the people and places we encountered.