Neighbors Project, America
I'm John Mireles, photographer and socially engaged artist. I'd like to ask for your support to help me with my mission to document Americans in all 50 states via a project that I call Neighbors.
Neighbors began as a series of portraits taken on the streets of a lower income community in San Diego. Instead of focusing on attention grabbing characters, I chose as my subjects the everyday people who constitute the backbone of the community. Afterwards, I displayed these tightly cropped portraits at 4 feet by 6 feet in a prominent location available for all to see.
Let's Take This Show on the Road!
Encouraged by the overwhelmingly positive feedback from locals, the media and other artists, I decided to expand this project into a nationwide, state by state, corner gas station by corner gas station assemblage of images of Americans from all walks of life and all corners of the country. My goal however isn't just to create an artistically valid body of work; it's to use my art to cut through the cultural and geographic divisions that hold us apart and bring us together as the one people that we are.
It's a big undertaking that I can't do alone and without your support. Beginning in June of 2016 I'll be driving my trusty 2001 Shasta motorhome across the country, logging over 12,000 miles and many long days both driving and stopping to ask random strangers if I may photograph them. Your support, no matter how big or small, will help keep this project alive.
Going Public
The end result will be not only a book and gallery shows, but, again with your support, a series of large format public exhibitions within the communities that I visited. By bringing the work out of the far removed white-walled galleries and museums where "fine art"usually resides and into the places where Americans live and work, the Neighbors project will have a real opportunity to empower lives and affect change.
Your Rewards!
Though you'll gain immeasurable satisfaction in the knowledge that you're supporting a grand cause, I've also sweetened the pot. With your $30 contribution, you'll receive Volume 1 of my Neighbors magazine, 20 pages of my most recent portraits. For $80, I'll send you a signed print of the woman pictured above. For $100, you'll receive both print and magazine. Here's the twist though, once this project is completed (or completely funded), this work will only be sold to collectors in very limited editions and at prices that will start in the thousands of dollars. If you love this project and want it for your home, now is the time to act!
Please donate now. Your thoughtfulness and your contribution will both sustain my project financially and help provide me with the emotional strength to keep me going even when I'm mentally exhausted in the middle of nowhere and wondering if this is all worth it. Thank you!
J Raymond Mireles
www.jraymondmireles.com
follow me on instagram: johnmireles