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.

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.