Richard Sharum: Spina Americana

" Driven by both national and personal anxiety about the current divisions in the US, photographer Richard Sharum embarked on a journey through the central ‘spine’ of America. He was in search of the unifying elements of contemporary American ‘national character’. Focusing on a 100 mile-wide corridor down the geographic centre of the US encompassing parts of the Dakotas, Kansas, Nebraska, Oklahoma and Texas—an area often dismissed as ‘flyover’ country—Sharum spoke to more than 4000 people and took over 14000 photographs. His aim was to see if this region could hold the key to a better understanding of who America still is as a country and what remains of the collective hope of a unified nation.

‘This term, flyover country, was one I’d heard my entire life but had never really thought about when it came to the condescension it implied. I felt that this part of our country had been ignored politically, socially and culturally for decades, with its obscurity creating a subtle but consequential vacuum that had implicitly added fuel to our national divisions. I knew that in order for me to find out what America is, I needed to travel its central corridor and see it for myself.’

A wide range of people and cultures inhabit this ‘spine’ of America including Mennonites, Lutherans, Indigenous Americans, Mexican-Americans, farmers with German, Scandinavian or Ukrainian roots and a myriad of others. Sharum documented both chance encounters with, and the daily lives of, a diverse spectrum of people including mechanics, surgeons, police officers, prisoners, exotic dancers, politicians, and migrant labourers along with the surrounding landsape. Spina America is divided into chapters focusing on different aspects of life in the ‘spine’ and within each chapter, individuals are given equal status and space. The final chapter of the book, Peril and Promise, juxtaposes photographs tied to hate, decay and danger with those tied to duty and community —serving as both a symbolic warning and a plea against destruction and division.

‘Long ago, I made a choice to pursue a calling of long-form photography as one who believes that through the power of observation, divisions can be seen for what they truly are—transitory, superficial, and obstructive to a cohesive bond between all people. Not just political divisions, but all divisions. I feel we must approach and engage each other on a personal level, without sensationalism, in order to understand the connections all people naturally possess—the connections that have always been and will remain throughout all time.’

Spina Americana includes texts by Bill Shapiro— former Editor-in-Chief of LIFE magazine and April M Watson—Senior Curator of Photography at The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City,Missouri. It is the first in a series of books collectively titled Of Thee I Sing—by Sharum focused on contemporary America."

Book Details:
Published November 2024
305 x 225 mm
208pp, 113 images
Hardback
ISBN 978-1-915423-51-1