Michael Dressel - The End Is Near, Here

Michael Dressel, born in East Berlin in 1958, is a wanderer
between American and German culture. His regular journeys
between his home towns on the American West Coast and Berlin
have sensitised him to recognise the social changes of recent
decades more clearly than most locals. His second book shows his view of American society on the eve
of a historic election. The Americans have a choice between sanity
and madness, between an orderly civilian state and increasing
decay and chaos. From a Central European perspective, the choice
seems clear, but to get a sense of the current state of mind of
Americans, it helps to look at this book with its end-time title.
Dressel's impressive images show a society on the edge of the
abyss, marked by extreme nationalism, political polarisation,
religious fanaticism, gun mania coupled with paranoia
and pervasive poverty and moral decay. His portraits are
complemented by landscape photographs that speak their own
gloomy language.