Beautiful, Gritty Photos Convey Hardship and Hope in America’s Rust Belt

Photographer Gregory Halpern weaves a ragged tale of America’s Rust Belt in his series A. Journeying from his home town of Buffalo, NY with a pop-up camper in tow, Halpern set out across the United States visiting Baltimore, Cincinnati, Omaha, Detroit and dozens of cities and towns in between. Infamous for poverty and neglect, the “fly-over” post-industrial horizon comes into view, threadbare and determined in the dwindling light. Halpern’s characters stand noble and solitary in the rough landscape while skittish animals dart from view and local buildings lay in waste. The world feels in an upheaval of occasional beauty and a naked struggle for survival, an unexpected resilience in every frame. It is in this contradiction where Halpern finds his ultimately hopeful story. A offers an apocryphal rendering of the American condition; a chronicle of grit and dignity in the face of a never-ending winter.

Named one of the best books of 2011, A is available through J&L Books.

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