“A Missourian gets used to Southerners thinking him a Yankee; a Northerner considering him a cracker a Westerner sneering at his effete Easterness; and the Easterner taking him for a cowhand.” -William Least Heat-Moon, Blue Highways

A PRAIRIE, NOT A PROMISE

A Prairie, Not a Promise is a reflection on the mythology of regionality; specifically the Midwestern United States. As someone who grew up in St. Louis, Missouri I’ve always been fascinated by the juxtaposition and often contradictory assumptions of the place I call home. An area somehow too banal and irrelevant to visit but simultaneously the standard of normality and purity by which so much else in the United States is measured. A myth around “the heartland” as a place where the middle class America Dream is realized, has created mass apathy towards the Midwest and stifles critical investigation of its history and culture. History and folklore of the region tout, hard work and kindness will lead to a life of prosperity, while ignoring the brutal realities of genocide, segregation, mass labor abuse and corporate greed that have plague the region. In this sense, the Midwest reflects the greater history of the United States, yet it is left out of many histories and photographic records.