Copyright PetaPixel
Inspired by great artists before her, Russian-American Anastasia Samoylova took a photographic journey along the historic U.S. Route 1 — beginning in her home state of Florida and ending in Maine. In 1954, the American photographer Berenice Abbott set out to document the historic US Route 1, predicting seismic changes to small towns and major cities along the road brought by the rapidly expanding Interstate Highway System. Inspired by Abbott’s acute and poetic observations of life along Route 1, Samoylova retraced Abbott’s trip seventy years later. Samoylova’s photographs explore the enduring impact of Route 1 as a corridor of commerce, migration, and myth, revealing how the American landscape continues to be shaped by infrastructure, ideology, and illusion. The trip resulted in the monograph Anastasia Samoylova: Atlantic Coast Samoylova’s journey as an artist runs parallel to that of Robert Frank, whose legendary book, The Americans, defined a new visual language of cultural critique and disillusionment. Like Frank, Samoylova immigrated to the United States at the age of 23, drawn to the contradictions and promises of American life. Atlantic Coast picks up Frank’s visual thread in a country further fragmented by environmental crisis, political nostalgia, and unchecked development, adding a distinctive chapter to a storied lineage of photographers. Samoylova works in the intersections of environmentalism, consumerism, politics, and the picturesque. The book features vibrant color and black-and-white photographs that draw on the visual vernacular of tourism, advertising, and the road trip itself.
