Since moving from Canada to the US over 25 years ago, I have been constantly immersed with the sounds and colors of the American Culture. One of my favorite annual events has always been the county State Fairs which occur every autumn in so many rural counties across the US. Its where the rural population gets to show off their products—the food they have grown, the handicrafts that they make, and their live stock which they raised—to be judged and appreciated by their fellow neighbors. Along with the farm culture, comes the Midway—that trashy place at the edge of the fair where people migrate at dusk to blow off steam, to play games, eat bad food, and enjoy those wild, crazy, thrilling rides.
It was the sounds and colors of the Midway that initially caught my eye and over the past 25 years it has evolved into one more project. These photographs were made at state fairs in Vermont, South Florida and New Mexico. Like most of my projects, they begin sometime way back in the past when something unconscious ignited my curiosity, and will probably continue far into the future. They have no beginning and no end—they just continue.
