I was raised in the American dream. Born in 1985 in Poland, I witnessed a transition from Communistic regime to democracy, and from singular (and oppressive) culture to pop culture rooted in the United States: I watched American sitcoms, was an NBA fan, and grew up listening to American music. Perhaps this was one of the reasons why my journey through Texas that I took in 2017 was so shocking to me. I was shocked to witness the empire on the threshold of collapse.
The presented series is a part of an ongoing project in the initial stage of development. Its aim is to confront my own image of the United States with the reality of personal stories of people that I met and I am going to meet while traveling through various states in the US: the excluded from the society, those who don’t belong to the vision of the American Dream, and reveal the side of the United States that reflects deepening stratification between the rich and the poor, those who have everything and those who own only few properties – the renegades of the “best country in the world”. Already during several weeks of initial development of the project I met people who shed a light on the complex situation – social and political – in contemporary America.
On the gas station in California I met Bradley, who served three turns in Iraq as a doctor. Due to the trauma that he suffered, he wanted to commit suicide. After having overcome this personal crisis, he is crossing all states by foot to raise awareness about PTSD. In downtown of Los Angeles, I met Stormy, who was recently released from prison after serving 18 years for production of meta amphetamine. Every year, the US agency DEA that is set up to fight with drugs shuts down tens of thousands small laboratories. Drug addiction is one of the largest social problems in the United Stated. When I met Stormy he was very proud of the fact that he was “clean”. I met Emily in the downtown of Austin. She and her daughter came to see Garth Brook’s concert, one of the country biggest stars. They were sitting in beautiful, although very destroyed oldsmobil, in which there was missing a sponge from the driver’s seat. – We come to the city center very rarely. Do you know how to get to the highway? I have never heard more harsh and beautiful Texan accent. I believe that what happens in the US may serve as a lens to grasp the processes that may be repeated in the other parts of the world – that’s why documenting the stories of American renegades is for me also a story of my own culture and the world-to- be.
