Galerie Wouter van Leeuwen presents Bryan Schutmaat: Sons of the Living
In 'Sons of the Living' - which he worked on for ten years - Bryan Schutmaat shows intimate portraits of hitchhikers and drifters living along the American highways, alternated with landscapes and still lifes of a country in decline.
Schutmaat finds his portrait subjects by offering hitchhikers a ride or introducing himself to people at makeshift campsites along the highway. He photographs them with a cumbersome large-format camera that requires him to work slowly, leaving plenty of time to form a bond with the subjects.
In his formative years, Schutmaat lived near Houston where he saw how the city's growth came at the expense of the landscape. He was disturbed by how forests were being cut down to make room for ever-expanding suburbs, shopping centers and parking lots.
Culturally and historically, the American West is synonymous with the American Dream, as the land of limitless possibilities. A country that, as a result of human industry, is edging dangerously close to the edge of the abyss.
Schutmaat poetically shows us the effects of global warming, increasing income inequality and economic uncertainty and the threat of nuclear warfare in the days when a reality TV star became president of the US.
Although 'Sons of the Living' is about America, Schutmaat ultimately wants to tell a universally appealing story about the dilemmas humanity faces. The seemingly insurmountable problems that threaten the viability of our planet and the inner battle between hope and despair that is waged in the hearts of all who are victims or witnesses to the torments of our unjust world.
Schutmaat is guided by curiosity on his wanderings. He prefers to concentrate on the interface between wilderness and civilization. There he photographs the eternal battle between man and nature. With his landscape photos he portrays the consequences of waste, irresponsible soil exploitation and humanity's disastrous intervention on the ecology. Photography as a medium to bring about a cultural change. In that sense, Schutmaat fits in the tradition of committed photographers such as Lewis Baltz, Robert Adams, Robert Frank, W. Eugene Smith and Dorothea Lange.
Bryan Schutmaat (1983, Austin, Texas) first attracted the attention of the photo world with his book 'Grays the Mountain Sends' (2014). A series of portraits and nature shots of almost forgotten communities in the American Rocky Mountains. A beautifully produced book, photographed in lush colours, which shows that Schutmaat is not only a gifted photographer, but also someone who uses the medium effectively to tell a story.
'Sons of the Living' is accompanied by a publication of the same name that is for sale in the gallery. A book full of poetic black-and-white photos that explore the myths of the American Wild West. The photographer will be present during the opening to sign.
Since 2017, Schutmaat has been self-publishing his books, for which he, together with Matthew Genitempo and Cody Haltom, founded an independent publishing house in Texas, Trespasser, focused on photo books