Mitch Epstein – State of the Union

Mitch Epstein (*1952 in Holyoke, Massachusetts) is numbered among the outstanding contemporary American photographers. This publication examines the development of Epstein s work through the example of two very different series of photographs.Recreation American Photographs (1973-1988) represents traditional American street photography and depicts everyday situations that make fundamental statements about life in the United States in the 1970s and 80s.Coincidental encounters document the open nature of a pluralistic society, which seems to lose its sense of liberality in later decades.This is implied in the title of the second series of photos,American Power, which Epstein began in 2003. It draws attention to one of the major power conglomerates in America the energy industry,which intervenes not only in society, but in nature as well, transforming them both in the process. Cooling towers and refineries dominate the images, breaking all rules of proportion and degrading everything else around them to the status of insignificant marginalia.