Dutch photographer and filmmaker Robin de Puy travelled the United States between 2022 and 2024 in search of unveiling the untold stories of underrepresented Americans.
De Puy captured photographs and video of the people she met throughout her travels, highlighting their lives in her new project American.
The audio and visual series, as well as her upcoming book of the same title, moves to capture the ‘resilience, humor and heartbreak’ of the many different faces of America.
American features 25 individual stories from the people 'who make up one of the world’s most powerful, extreme and divisive countries'.
De Puy captured the project ahead of the 2024 presidential election, during what she describes a 'politically turbulent and poignant time' in the US, and aimed to reveal the 'thoughts, concerns and dreams of the largely unheard people of America'.
The portraits featured in American will be displayed in a series of billboards across Nevada’s Route 50.
The photographs and testimonies featured in the project will also be published by Hannibal in a photobook across Europe next month and worldwide in early 2025.
APRIL 21, 2022: Savannah, 19, lives in a room at the dilapidated Yellow Motel in Wichita Falls, Texas with her boyfriend (right), two siblings (left), father, two dogs and pet lizard. Before moving in the Yellow Motel, the family motel hopped and lived in their car
APRIL 21, 2022: The pregnant 19-year-old appears to be floating 'carefree' in the bathtub of her family's motel room. Savannah says 'I am terrified, but everything will be okay'
APRIL 16, 2022: Nick, 79, and Zorka, 76, run the Maverick Motel in Raton, New Mexico. Nick, originally from Yugoslavia, visited the US as a tourist in 1968 and became a citizen eight years later. He worked as a welder in Colorado for 18 years and then launched the motel. He and Zorka have run the business together since they got married. Although the Maverick Motel was once very successful, the collapsing motel industry has couple now looking to sell
JULY 16, 2022: Alton, 89, sits solemnly in Beckham's Bookshop in New Orleans, Louisiana. He and his business partner, 87-year-old Carey, are still together after 65 years. They don't call themselves a couple, despite sharing a bed and the store with 60,000 books. Their slogan is 'Beckham's Bookshop delights and improves the mind'
JULY 17, 2022: Nino, 54, is a real life cowboy living in New Orleans, Louisiana. His father taught him how to tame wild horses when he was a very young age, as well as everything that comes with horseback riding. He 'scoops' bull riders up when they fall off and does maintenance on trailers that provide temporary housing for people displaced by natural disasters. When asked who takes care of him, Nino replied: 'I'm good'
JULY 20, 2022: Damaj, 17, (left) is the owner of a tire shop in Clarksdale, Mississippi. Damaj, who was born in Yemen but brought to America by his father, was told that he can have anything he wants if he stays in school. But the teen dreams of opening 500 tire shops within 10 years. Jamario, (right) who was turning 21 and about to become a father, dreams of going to the police academy
JULY 22, 2022: These carefree boys from Mena, Arkansas are hard workers with big dreams. The teens, who were spotted in a parking lot near a Walmart, Pizza Hut and McDonald's, do not talk about politics because it's 'took complicated', but do reveal their favorite 'move with the girls'. They showed off their cars, doing burnouts in the parking lot, and said they aren't afraid of the police because the officers 'don't bother us'
JULY 25, 2022: Carol, 22, has been living on the streets in Lawton, Oklahoma for four years. She has a collarbone tattoo that reads ‘awaking my soul from darkness’, a tribute to her father who died when she was just two years old. Carol wants to get a job but most employment opportunities in Lawton are associated with the military or university students. 'It's hard to find help in this country,' she said
JULY 28, 2022: Dottie, 83, lives in Uncertain, a swampland near the border of Texas and Louisiana with a population of only 85 people. She used to be a teacher but is now regarded by locals as the 'Superwoman from Uncertain'. Dottie loves riding her Harley Davidson motorcycle and the company of her racoon Willow, who is often found perched on her shoulder or sitting in her lap
APRIL 14, 2023: Ten-year-old Leuxian lives in Midvale, Utah with his adoptive parents. The couple adopted him when he was seven and 'know very little about his past'. Robin de Put first photographed him as a toddler, recalling how he walked outside in a diaper and was burning himself on the hot exhaust of her motorcycle. During both photoshoots, Leuxian manages to get dirty. His mother Amanda says, 'There is one big difference. He can be dirty now, because now he has a mommy that cleans him afterwards'
APRIL 15, 2023: Jeffrey, 20, lives in a campervan in Ely, Nevada with his mother, stepfather and 14 dogs. He shots at microwaves with his pistol as he recalls the time he and his best friend accidentally burnt down six cars and a trailer while they were lighting campfires. The 'burnt car carcasses' are now used as a breeding ground for wild peacocks that roam the area
APRIL 19, 2023: Six-year-old Emily is eating a frozen peanut butter and jelly sandwich. The photographer met Emily and her family at a Walmart in Twin Falls, Idaho. Emily's cognitive disability makes life a bit more challenging, but she is a 'happy, healthy kid in school'. Her mother says that without the help of the school and doctors 'I could not have done it'
APRIL 25, 2023: Levi, 35, has a bloody open-skull tattoo around his mouth because 'it's unique' and he 'loves zombies'. He lives in Casper, Wyoming with his pit bull Bella as he battles Huntington's Disease, a hereditary condition causes muscle spasms. His grandmother died a slow death, which Levi suspects will also be his fate. He longs for an Apocalypse because he feels 'this world needs to be reset' and because it will put an end to his slow death
JULY 14, 2024: Identical twins Derek and Quentin, 29, finish each other's sentences, as well as talk over and mimic each other. They live in a tent in the woods in Elkhart, Indiana. Extreme downpours have left their clothing and bedsheets completely damp. They are laundering their items at a 1950s trailer home owned by their friend. The brothers were adopted by their grandmother, who they say battled cancer three times, when they were little. Their mother has schizophrenia and their father, who 'cooked meth', is dead
JULY 24, 2024: Austyn and Ryder live in Scottsburg, Indiana with their 41-year-old father James, mother Tiffany and their youngest brother Tanner in a temporary home that is 'something in between an apartment and a barn'. The family hopes to soon find a 'nice, and more permanent, place to live', says James
JULY 24, 2024: Austyn, the family's eldest, is dozens of train carriages pass by. The train driver honked his horn and waved at the boys as he drove by
AUGUST 3, 2024: Crystal, 16, is a runner with Jamaican roots. She grew up partly in DeKalb, a city in rural Illinois, with her father and in Brooklyn, New York City with her mother. She started running during a vacation to Jamaica because she 'wanted to try something new'. She competed in her first track event and ended up winning. Now she loves the sport and says that 'everything about track just makes me happy'