Barren landscapes with grey skies, desolate interiors with worn furniture under cheerless paintings on the wall and portraits of lonely residents who look aimlessly ahead. These are the basic ingredients of the book Grays the Mountain Sends by Texan photographer Bryan Schutmaat about the American mining regions. The book can be read as a tribute to the diligent residents, who have maintained the American economy for decades but have now been decommissioned. "The title is taken from a poem by Richard Hugo. It's a metaphor for that which makes life difficult in small mining towns in the American West. These many mines are closed and just the grey mountains are left."

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I'm concerned about these areas and their social situation.

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The project is about different areas in the Western US and also about various mines: coal mines, copper mines, iron ore mines and gold mines. The carefully composed images of weathered faces and wild landscapes show the decline of the once-thriving economy of the American mining industry. "I'm concerned about these areas and their social situation. It goes without saying that the mining industry has left behind a trail of environmental destruction, and many working-class people have been exploited. Beyond the social and political elements, I also look at things from a poetic viewpoint. The parallels between people and place have a commonality that I try to state poetically in the story with my images."

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Poetic documentary

Although Schutmaat works in colour, you see a kinship with the photography of the famous American documentary tradition from the 1930s. "I've been influenced by the great documentary photographers of the past, such as Dorothea Lange and Walker Evans, who worked for the Farm Security Administration during the Great Depression. Evans said that his work should be seen as a "lyrical documentary" style, in which the interpretation of emotion and subjectivity plays an important role. This has influenced me since I'm not trying to do photojournalism, but a form of poetic documentary."

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For me, it's like composing a piece of music.

Genres

The combination of different genres, portrait, still life and landscape is a conscious choice by Schutmaat. "I often put landscape photos next to portraits of people who may not live near where the landscapes were taken, but who I think share a connection to the places in a more symbolic sense. I'm concerned with an emotional and narrative relationship between photos, through which I can show a certain atmosphere. I combine the photos in an associative way so that the images form a vague story. For me, it's like composing a piece of music. All the images should be harmonious together."
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The American West

From a technical and visual point of view, Bryan Schutmaat is looking for a precise expression of his story. He works with an analogue 4x5 inch camera, which gives him a shallow depth of field and makes him work slowly, which is close to the nature of his subject. Schutmaat: "My work references the pioneers of photography who worked in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. The history of photography is important to me, and I've been influenced by photographers like Edward Curtis and Carleton Watkins. Still, my work obviously addresses the present and the meaning of my photos is something very different."
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Given his subject of the American West, does Schutmaat also feel related to Richard Avedon? "I love Avedon's work In the American West, but I've always been a bit ambivalent about it regarding representation. But what I always appreciated in Avedon's approach is that he admitted there was a certain amount of fiction in his photos. He said the West depicted in his pictures was no more real than the West of John Wayne. He understood that photographic truth doesn't really exist, and he embraced invention over a perception of documentation."
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I tend to bend reality slightly to serve the story.

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Subdued colours

The colours of the photographs in Grays the Mountain Sends are subdued and have no exuberant saturation. "I'm very meticulous when it comes to editing my images. After shooting, when I go back to my studio and begin to edit, group, and arrange the photos, I become sensitive to colour. I only include pictures with palettes that work well together."

Despite the personal poetry in the work of Bryan Schutmaat and his aversion to a political interpretation, it does contain a socio-political background. But it is hidden behind the personal interpretation of his subject. "I tend to bend reality slightly to serve the story. I think truth is important, especially in the current age of news manipulation, and we need objectivity in journalism, but in other disciplines, artists can impose their will. Filmmakers, writers, and so on don't have to stick to the truth, and I think we can also include art photography in this category of storytelling, even if it outwardly appears documentary. Building an evocative atmosphere and expressing a kind of lyricism is more important to me than showing what is known as objective truth."
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I see myself as an artist who is concerned and that is reflected in the work.

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No activism

Schutmaat emphasizes that the inherent commitment in his oeuvre should not be interpreted as activist. "I think individuals should strive to be more political. We should be better citizens and try to steer our world toward a better future. If art can help in this regard, then that's great, but I don't know if art can or should always attempt this. My work is political, but I hesitate to say that it's activist, because its utility for change is questionable. I don't believe that a photobook of mine with a circulation of 1500 copies - seen mainly by lovers of art photography who probably already share much of my politics - will cause any major political change. I make my work for a relatively small audience. I see myself as an artist who is concerned - about climate change, income inequality, and so on - and that is reflected in the work, but I'm not trying to save the world with it."

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Bryan Schutmaat is an American photographer whose work has been widely exhibited and published. He has won numerous awards, including a John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Fellowship, the Aperture Portfolio Prize, and an Aaron Siskind Fellowship. Bryan's prints are held in many collections, such as Baltimore Museum of Art, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Pier 24 Photography, and San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Bryan Schutmaat is represented by Galerie Wouter van Leeuwen, Amsterdam.

www.bryanschutmaat.com

The book Grays the Mountain Sends

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