“Family Under the Presidio-Ojinaga International Bridge, Texas-Mexico Border, 2019.”

A Photographer’s American Road Trip

Ms. Lê was a 2012 MacArthur fellow, and a survey of her work is at the Carnegie Museum of Art, in Pittsburgh, through January. She teaches photography at Bard College.

These past four years, I’ve been on a photographic road trip of the United States. It often seems that there are two Americas, left and right, looking at the same place from radically different and irreconcilable perspectives.

This week I found myself on the grounds of the White House. It was a drizzly, dreary morning. Dug up sections of the lawn adjacent to a lineup of broadcast tents appeared like graves. A theater of the real. I photographed Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois, who is all about work, in his Capitol office. On his coffee table lay a biography of the “Silent General,” Ulysses S. Grant.

There are many types of power and means of taking measure of the powerful. Many of my photographs are made out of a profound sense of powerlessness but also out of a desire to locate power and authority in unexpected places: in the natural world, in a solitary border patrol officer or in the intimacy and strength of a family under a bridge that connects the United States to Mexico. These images are reminders to me that our American landscape and the communities within it transcend this cultural and political moment.

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“James S. Brady Press Briefing Room, The White House, Washington, D.C., 2020.”
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“Correspondent From Al Jazeera English Language Channel and Presenter for Al Jazeera Arabic Language Channel, The White House, Washington, D.C., 2020.”
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“‘No Confirmation Before Inauguration’ Rally Speech by Volunteer Patient Advocate for Planned Parenthood, U.S. Capitol Grounds and Arboretum, Washington, D.C., 2020.”
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“Senator Dick Durbin, the Minority Whip, in his Capitol Office, Washington, D.C., 2020.”
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“Reinstallation of the Irrigation System, White House North Grounds, Washington, D.C., 2020.”
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“Land Scars From the Trans-Pecos Pipeline, Marfa, Texas, 2019.”
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“St. John’s Church, Lafayette Square, Washington D.C., 2020."
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“Field Hospital Tents, Central Park, New York, N.Y., 2020.”
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“Andrew Jackson Statue (Boxer), Lafayette Square, President’s Park, Washington, D.C., 2020.”
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“General Robert E. Lee Monument, New Orleans, Louisiana, 2016.”
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“Sugar Cane Field, November 5, Houma, Louisiana, 2016.”
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“Jefferson Davis Monument, Homeland Security Storage, New Orleans, Louisiana, 2017.”
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“Oval Office Set, ‘Saturday Night Live,’ NBC Studios, New York, N.Y., 2018.”
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“Migrant Workers Pruning Pomegranate Trees, Mendota, California, 2018.”
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“Cars along the Rio Grande, U.S.-Mexico border, Ojinaga, Mexico, 2019.”
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“U.S. Customs and Border Protection Officer, Presidio-Ojinaga International Bridge, 2019.”
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“Mexico Customs and Border Protection Officer, Presidio-Ojinaga International Bridge, Ojinaga, Mexico, 2019.”

Second through sixth images: An-My Lê for The New York Times; all other images courtesy Marian Goodman Gallery.

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A version of this article appears in print on  , Section SR, Page 12 of the New York edition with the headline: An American Road Trip. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe

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