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Doug Rickard, #27.144277, Okeechobee, FL (2008), from A New American Picture, 2011, archival pigment print, courtesy of the artist and Stephen Wirtz Gallery
Photographer Doug Rickard (b. 1968) creates images of some of the nation's poorest cities and towns. In his series A New American Picture, Rickard employs images from Google Street View to create a portrait of Great Recession-era America. Rickard carefully selected the images in this series to bring to light the American landscape and its economic segregation. Motivated by the histories of race and class in the United States, Rickard used Street View to survey significant cities and locations in the history of the Civil Rights Movement, such as Selma and Birmingham, Alabama. As the series developed, he deliberately chose places identified by realtors' websites as "bad neighborhoods," "areas to avoid," and other codes for places inhabited by the poor and underclass.
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"I LIE TO PEOPLE ABOUT THE TOWN I'M FROM IN FEAR THAT PEOPLE WILL RECOGNIZE IT AND KNOW THAT IT'S ACTUALLY A REALLY WEALTHY COMMUNITY."
Skidmore College Student
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Growing up in Saratoga, the discrimination we did have, it was class. It was based on your socioeconomic status, was what it was. I knew a lot of people in high school, but many of them I didn't, because I didn't fit in. I didn't have a Swatch watch or drive or a Corvette or a BMW to school every day. And that's what it was like, growing up here in Saratoga. Everything was based on, where you lived and how much money your parents had. And I don't know, I think class was the only discrimination that I realized as a child growing up.
Classless Society Stories Project
Everybody was mostly shift workers - you know, three to elevens or eleven to sevens and your seven to threes. And that's just how we grew up. We really didn't know things to be much different from that in the real world.
Classless Society Stories Project
I'm forty-three, I'm white, and I live in Saratoga Springs. And currently, class plays a significant role in my life and I think about it and am reminded of it in circumstances. Not on an everyday basis, but it's definitely part of my background, mainly because I'm struggling right now to make ends meet because I think that my economic status makes me socially isolated and prevents me from doing some of the things that would ordinarily open up my world, really, and my universe.
Classless Society Stories Project
GROWING UP IN SARATOGA, THE DISCRIMINATION WE DID HAVE, IT WAS CLASS...
EVERYBODY WAS MOSTLY SHIFT WORKERS...
I'M FORTY-THREE, I'M WHITE, AND I LIVE IN SARATOGA SPRINGS, AND CURRENTLY, CLASS PLAYS A SIGNIFICANT ROLE IN MY LIFE...
WE GREW UP IN A
TRAILER PARK...
(0:28 min)
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I DON'T WANT TO BECOME HOUSE POOR, I DON'T WANT A BIG MCMANSION...
(0:52 min)
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