“THE MIDWEST IS LARGE. LAND IS CHEAP. IS THIS THE AMERICAN DREAM?”

I came to visit my family just a month after they moved from Los Angeles to the suburbs of Nebraska. It was August, and my 16-year-old sister was miserable. Halfway through high school and thoroughly a “Southern Californian”, I wanted to document her transition.

In the past few years, I have come to love America. I love the quirkiness of the American people, I love the infinite differences of land, I love our history of change. I call it “New Patriotism”, of learning to love my country for the good it has done.

My sister has no such connection.

It is not always easy. Even the city can be hostile to us: women with short hair, women wearing weird clothes. women even wearing men’s clothes. These quirky Americans look at us with unease. But we are those Americans too. We can look back in equal astonishment, and we do.

The Midwest is large. Land is cheap. Is this the “American Dream”? From a poor apartment in Los Angeles to a suburban double-story? From fitting in to being stared at?

How long until we are home?

This series was shot on Ektar 100 with a Pentax Super ME.

—Eavan McNeil, October 2021