Juxtapoz magazine recently published a beautiful and disturbing photo essay about Florida, titled "Anastasia Samoylova and Walker Evans: A Photo-Dialogue on Florida Past and Present." The photos on the site are from the book Floridas, published by Steidl, and feature overly tanned bodies, lush green landscapes, alligators, run-down roadside motels, and, of course, guns. Juxtapoz describes the project this way:
Sunshine state. Swampland paradise. Tourist aspiration. Real-estate racket. Refuge of excess. Political swing-state. Sub-tropical fever dream. With forms of nature and culture found nowhere else, Florida is unique. It is also among the most elusive and misunderstood of places. Anastasia Samoylova has photographed Florida on intensive road trips. Walker Evans (1903–75) photographed it over four decades. Twisting the visual clichés, these two remarkably discerning observers convey Florida's dizzying combination of fantasy and reality.
