Per L-B Nilsson: Beyond Kankakee

Life in small Midwestern towns: Budweiser, deserted main streets, open landscapes, pool halls Per L-B Nilsson about the project: ”State and 35th” in the south of Chicago was my operational base. Here I was going to live and work for three years. The skyline of Chicago was outlined against the horizon. I moved towards Maxwell Street, Halsted Street, State Street, The Loop, Michigan Avenue and Lincoln Avenue. It was a two -year long walk. Then I left ”The Windy City”. Beyond the city line the prairie spread. At the time, this was something entirely unknown to me. However, there was an undescriptive excitement over this apparently unlimited land. In a small field outside Peotone I first felt the smell of fresh corn, together with the photographer and professor David Plowden. I was convinced that I should work through Chicago and then onto the prairie, but it was not until I really stood there that the genuine feeling for the wide landscape hit me. My years in Chicago turned into an expedition, and in this project I developed my experiences of the city and its streets. All the time I was attracted towards streets and roads. As I changed, the street changed. An overpopulated State Street had to give room to abandoned ”Main Streets” and solitary main roads. David Plowden, advised me to go ”south of Kankakee”, where the ”real” country begins –three hours by car south of Chicago. The triangle formed by the cities Kankakee, Champaign and Bloomington limited my travels. This land was the most beautiful I had ever seen, with a beauty so unlike the European landscape we’re used to see in postcards. It was the feeling of excitement that made me go back, week after week. The cities were spread like little isolated islands on the prairie. There was nothing constant about their looks. It was as if each and every building or telephone pole was there just as long as the practicality required. [...] From the publisher: Bilderna i Per L-B Nilssons nya bok Beyond Kankakee är fotograferade i den amerikanska mellanvästern i mitten på 1980-talet och skildrar livet i den traditionella småstaden. Det är platser som vuxit upp längs järnvägsnätet och utgångspunkten för det fotografiska projektet är huvudgatan The Main Street som både skär igenom och förbinder samhället. Det är här butikerna, barerna, frisörerna postkontor och banker finns och där människor möts. Med en blick för vardagens sociala samspel och för platsens specifika karaktär har Per L-B Nilsson skapat ett inkännande porträtt av både människorna och av en kultur, som har formats av en kombination av historiska omständigheter och platsens geografiska placering i det som amerikanerna kallar sitt Heartland. De svartvita fotografierna är på samma gång berättande och starkt formellt orienterade, och denna kombination bidrar till deras kvardröjande egenskaper. I en text berättar Per L-B Nilsson om bakgrunden till dokumentationen och sin tid i USA. Hans erfarenheter och minnen bidrar på ett värdefullt sätt till att fördjupa bilden av det fotografiska landskapet och dess historia.