West Of Here
2012-Present
While Omaha is remarkably midwestern in its nature, the city I call home lies on the very eastern edge of the Great Plains, a sprawling region that spans from the Missouri River in the east to the Rocky Mountains in the west. It’s an often misunderstood part of America, derided as everything from the Great American Desert in the 19th century to Fly-Over Country in modern parlance, sparsely-populated with seemingly empty landscapes, slowly disappearing settlements, and the ghosts of a way of life displaced and irreparably harmed. This is where millions came to claim their promised American future, only to find the reality of life on the plains to be harsh and lonesome, and the results of their labor to be meager or non-existent.
These photographs, captured over a decade exploring blue highways and gravel roads, seek to document the Great Plains region in an organized, systematic way, to remember things that will shortly disappear and reflect on the land itself.
Click thumbnails to view images.
