States of America, on view at Nottingham Contemporary in London, is an unusual survey of American photography exhibited in England. The exhibition focuses on a generation of photographers that experimented with innovative approaches to documentary photography. Drawing from the collection of the Wilson Center for Photography, the exhibition includes key works by Diane Arbus, Louis Draper, William Eggleston and Bruce Davidson, as well as Stephen Shore, who in November will be the subject of a major retrospective at MoMA in New York. This exhibition stretches from the Civil Rights Movement to the Reagan Era, three decades that shaped the polarized landscape of Trump’s America, and explores tectonic shifts in American society and politics, from the decay of city centers and the decline of industry to suburban sprawl and the development of mass advertising.
