Divided #5 – Day 18

After leaving Kentucky we started heading towards the coast. In Tennessee we spent one day and then it was time to leave Appalachia behind us. But we didn’t take the Interstate to cross the Blue Ride Mountains, the last part of Appalachia we had to cross. We took a small highway and it was most definitely the curviest road we have ever taken. For about 8 miles the road was never straight for more than 100 m.

Finally we left Appalachia behind us. It had been quite an experience and we had met some great people. We had gotten an insight into an America that has been left behind, that has set its hopes in Trump, hoping for a better future.

On our way towards the coast we passed a strawberry field in South Carolina with about a dozen workers picking strawberry in the heat of the early afternoon. We stopped and it didn’t surprise us to find out that the Strawberry pickers were Mexican. It was more of a surprise that we were allowed to set up our studio and take a portrait. Abraham and his wife Patricia agreed to be photographed, but only after telling us that they were illegal and that we could only use their first names. They told us that they worked every day from sunrise to sunset except on rainy days. It was hard work and their backs were constantly hurting. They told us they were all doing it for their 6 years old son, so that he would have a better life. Talking with them made us once again aware how thankful we had to be to be born in a rich country with lots of opportunities.

But the Mexican success stories do exist. The next day we shot the portrait of Tristin Anthony Corrales, a golf instructor in Hilton Head. His parents had come to the US when they were young. They had worked long hours in whatever jobs they could find to make sure their children would have it better. It worked out. And that is the reason why no wall will ever stop people who are looking for a better life and more opportunities for their children.

After we had reached the coast, we were heading South towards Georgia. In beautiful Savannah, we found Spiderman in a park next to Savannah College of Art and Design. Without having the slightest clue who was hiding behind the mask we asked him if we could shoot his portrait. Behind the mask was Charlie Knight, a student of architecture, who was gay and had identified himself with Spiderman ever since he was little.

Our next stop on the road was Brunswick, GA, a town that was not quite as pretty as Savannah and that had seen better days. By coincidence we ended up in a rough neighborhood. A neighborhood that had definitely a drug problem. We didn’t really want to stop there until we saw Johnny, the only black cowboy in Georgia. He was just too good of a character for not stopping. He was really excited to be photographed! We were slightly worried to set up our studio in this area where you could see drug deals taking place on every corner. But we had to get his portrait and he assured us that we would be ok. Johnny turned out to be much more than just a good portrait. In an interview he told us about growing up in extreme poverty in Southern Georgia that was still mostly segregated. And about his cocaine addiction that he battles against since the early eighties.