Sons Of The Living

…The book makes it clear that the American dream is anything but one dream. It is more obvious today, deep into a second Trump term, that we haven’t seen the end of the decline just yet.

The work was photographed over a decade plus. I spoke to Bryan briefly at Paris Photo and he said he spent about two -three weeks every year away from other commitments to immerse himself on the open road and embrace every act and gesture that came his way, using his slower ways with a large format camera and tripod.

Sons Of The Living is an opus - not a single thing I would want to be different.

For more than a decade, American photographer Bryan Schutmaat has travelled through the landscapes of the American West, photographing the people and places he encounters along the way. In Sons of the Living, published in 2024, these journeys take him across the vast, dry landscapes of the American Southwest, where highways connect remote communities, small towns and stretches of land far from major cities. The photographs offer a view of America shaped not by its familiar landmarks, but by the people and places that are often overlooked.

People are central to the project. Schutmaat photographs strangers he meets during his travels, including people living outside conventional social structures and moving between places and temporary jobs. He sometimes picks up hitchhikers, spends time with them and photographs them with their permission. The resulting portraits show people with very different lives and experiences, each with their own story. Rather than reducing his subjects to examples of a wider social problem, Schutmaat gives them space within a broader picture of contemporary America.

The landscapes and buildings in Sons of the Living offer another perspective on life in the American West. Alongside open roads and expansive terrain, Schutmaat photographs worn-down houses, abandoned spaces and signs of economic decline. These places point to the effects of changing industries, limited opportunities and neglect. The work also reflects on the idea of the American Dream, contrasting the promise of freedom and possibility associated with the open road with the uncertainty faced by many of the people who live there.

Schutmaat’s work draws on a long history of American photography, particularly the tradition of documenting the country’s landscapes and communities. His photographs recall earlier documentary projects that recorded rural life, hardship and changing environments, including the work of photographers such as Dorothea Lange. However, Sons of the Living is firmly rooted in the present. Made over a period of social and economic change, it looks at the American West without turning it into a nostalgic image of the past.

Published by Trespasser, the photography imprint Schutmaat co-founded, Sons of the Living brings together a decade of work in an extensive photobook. Landscapes, portraits and photographs made at night along the highway recur throughout the sequence, creating a sense of movement through the book.

Together, the images form a portrait of a country marked by uncertainty, but also by the persistence of the people who inhabit it. Schutmaat’s attention remains with those who continue to find their way forward, even when the road ahead is unclear.