Mitch Epstein on capturing the real America for 50 years

’There’s a kind of madness’ — Since the age of 16, photographer Mitch Epstein has been documenting the complexities and contradictions of the United States.

The year was 1969, and America was ablaze, fired up by protests against the Vietnam War, the civil rights movement, women’s liberation, and Stonewall. Photographer Mitch Epstein, then just 16 years old, began to use his camera to confront the complex cultural psychology of the country he called home. 

Over the next 50 years, he would amass an archive of work that stands alone as single images, works beautifully as photo essays, and reveals the country’s complexities, contradictions and conflicts.

In his masterful new book, Sunshine Hotel (Steidl), Epstein weaves a mesmerising tapestry of American life that speaks powerfully of who and where we are now. The 175 photographs in the book, sequenced by editor Andrew Roth, raise questions while simultaneously revealing the nuances of the national character.

Veterans Respond Flag, Sacred Stone Camp, Standing Rock Sioux Reservation, North
Dakota 2017

“The book demands and deserves to be read,”  Epstein says. “You have to give yourself to it and then you get something back and that’s what art should be. I don’t know that it’s ever meant to be fully understood in terms of its meaning. It’s not about that. It’s more visceral in some way.”

Sunshine Hotel looks at American history without the nostalgia that makes us long for a simpler time, while illustrating William Faulker’s dictum: “The past is never dead. It’s not even past.” Yet the book is not didactic: it is everything America purports to be: open, embracing, accepting, and validating of multiple perspectives simultaneously.

A powerful sense of realism that pervades the work underscoring a sense of knowing that Epstein’s eye has always held. “There’s a kind of madness that’s this undercurrent that’s always been there in the American landscape,” Epstein says. 

“We’re at a point of deep division and things spinning out of control but a lot of has been kept under wraps. It’s always been there but it’s just more accelerated now because there’s more pressure on all the resources, which are being depleted.”

Border Wall, Nogales, Arizona 2017

Yet Epstein is not a pessimist. For all its painful truths, Sunshine Hotel is a letter of hope, a belief that goodwill perseveres. “The saving grace of my work is it’s not explaining itself; it’s enabling beauty. I think within beauty there is a kind of hope, a glimmer of optimism.”

“These are times in which we all have to be bold as artists, as citizens, as human beings. My pictures are a tool I can use to create perspective on the complexity of these things without surrendering them to the ideas I have got floating in my head.” 

Ultimately, Sunshine Hotel is a noble lesson on the importance of putting the subject first while respecting the journey and the work – and always staying present, flexible, and open to how to transmit the experience of witnessing through the photograph.

West Side Highway, New York 1977

South Beach Dredging Site, Fort Pierce, Florida 2005

Ivana Trump and New Jersey Generals Cheerleaders, Trump Tower, New York City 1984

Ashton Clatterbuck in Lancaster Against Pipelines Lockdown Device, Pennsylvania 2018

Standing Rock Prayer Walk, North Dakota 2018

Follow Miss Rosen on Twitter.

Enjoyed this article? Like Huck on Facebook or follow us on Twitter


Ad

Latest on Huck

Red shop frontage with "Open Out" branding and appointment-only signage.
Activism

Meet the trans-led hairdressers providing London with gender-affirming trims

Open Out — Since being founded in 2011, the Hoxton salon has become a crucial space the city’s LGBTQ+ community. Hannah Bentley caught up with co-founder Greygory Vass to hear about its growth, breaking down barbering binaries, and the recent Supreme Court ruling.

Written by: Hannah Bentley

Cyclists racing past Palestinian flag, yellow barriers, and spectators.
Sport

Gazan amputees secure Para-Cycling World Championships qualification

Gaza Sunbirds — Alaa al-Dali and Mohamed Asfour earned Palestine’s first-ever top-20 finish at the Para-Cycling World Cup in Belgium over the weekend.

Written by: Isaac Muk

Crowded festival site with tents, stalls and an illuminated red double-decker bus. Groups of people, including children, milling about on the muddy ground.
© Alan Tash Lodge
Music

New documentary revisits the radical history of UK free rave culture

Free Party: A Folk History — Directed by Aaron Trinder, it features first-hand stories from key crews including DiY, Spiral Tribe, Bedlam and Circus Warp, with public streaming available from May 30.

Written by: Isaac Muk

Weathered wooden building with a tall spire, person on horseback in foreground.
Culture

Rahim Fortune’s dreamlike vision of the Black American South

Reflections — In the Texas native’s debut solo show, he weaves familial history and documentary photography to challenge the region’s visual tropes.

Written by: Miss Rosen

A collage depicting a giant flup for mankind, with an image of the Earth surrounded by planets and people in sci-fi costumes.
Culture

Why Katy Perry’s space flight was one giant flop for mankind

Galactic girlbossing — In a widely-panned, 11-minute trip to the edge of the earth’s atmosphere, the ‘Women’s World’ singer joined an all-female space crew in an expensive vanity advert for Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin. Newsletter columnist Emma Garland explains its apocalypse indicating signs.

Written by: Emma Garland

Three orange book covers with the title "Foreign Fruit" against a dark background.
Culture

Katie Goh: “I want people to engage with the politics of oranges”

Foreign Fruit — In her new book, the Edinburgh-based writer traces her personal history through the citrus fruit’s global spread, from a village in China to Californian groves. Angela Hui caught up with her to find out more.

Written by: Katie Goh

Huck is supported by our readers, subscribers and Club Huck members. It is also made possible by sponsorship from:

Signup to our newsletter

Sign up to our newsletter to informed with the cutting edge of sport, music and counterculture, featuring personal takes on the state of media and pop culture from Emma Garland, former Digital Editor of Huck, exclusive interviews, recommendations and more.

Please wait...

Accessibility Settings

Text

Applies the Open Dyslexic font, designed to improve readability for individuals with dyslexia.

Applies a more readable font throughout the website, improving readability.

Underlines links throughout the website, making them easier to distinguish.

Adjusts the font size for improved readability.

Visuals

Reduces animations and disables autoplaying videos across the website, reducing distractions and improving focus.

Reduces the colour saturation throughout the website to create a more soothing visual experience.

Increases the contrast of elements on the website, making text and interface elements easier to distinguish.