This artist handed out cameras across America – here’s what pictures came back

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Last year, New York artist Neil Hamamoto embarked on a road trip across the USA in an Airstream-turned-darkroom. Though he wasn’t ‘inspired’, per se, by the documentary photographer Robert Frank’s The Americans, the seminal photo series does provide a sort of framework to understand his ambitions. “Road trip, black-and-white photography, America, book,” Neil says. The key difference, however, is that Neil handed the cameras over to the people he met along the way and FREE FILM: USA, the resulting story, offers a unique sort of visual diary of the country.

With a background in sculpture and design for the tech industry, this was something of a gear change for Neil. “I’m a conceptual artist making work in a variety of mediums,” he says, “but focus most of my time on sculpture — using wood, metal and other prefabricated materials. As my art practice continues to grow and evolve, my experiences in that past life in the tech industry remain a source of inspiration for my work.” Having been interested in photography since childhood — “my mother and grandfather were both avid photography hobbyists” — he’s always been shooting and developing.