The more than 250 photos that appear in a new coffee-table book offer a voyeur’s look inside American homes.
“America at Home: A Close-up Look at How We Live” (Running Press, $40) hits stores in April. The book, written by Rick Smolan and Jennifer Erwitt, captures the ways people interact with their dwellings — from treehouses to tenement slums.
Smolan’s work has appeared in Time, Life and National Geographic.
The Denver Post recently talked with the photographer about his interest in the personal spaces of his subjects.
What inspired this book, and what sets it apart from your previous work?
The idea actually came from my 7-year-old daughter. Last spring she went on her first sleepover at a girl’s house three doors down. She was nervous about it. After she survived it, I asked her what was the one thing that stood out to her about her experience. She whispered in my ear, “Papa don’t tell Mom, but my friend’s mother let us eat Cheerios for dinner.
It was the first time that it dawned on me that all families are alike and yet completely different in their traditions and rituals, the things they do at night, whether they pray before they eat. The smells and memories of your bedroom, pillow fighting.
There is so much emotion connected to the word “home.” My daughter told me I should write a book about how people are the same but different when they are at home.
Why is it important to showcase Americans in their homes?
Before you have kids and before you lose a parent, I don’t think you are aware of how much a part of your personality your home is. When you are a child, your home life is the foundation of your personality. As people get older their house is where they surround themselves with the photos and objects that represent moments of their lives. Each object inside the home becomes a window into their memories and who they are. These photos reflect that.
How do you think homes in America compare with homes in other countries?
Right after we finished “America at Home,” we started shooting a sister project in the United Kingdom called “UK at Home.” On a superficial level, I thought that things probably wouldn’t be that different because we are both Western, English-speaking countries. But I couldn’t have been more wrong.
The homes are so tiny in England compared with the expansive spaces we live in here. We used to joke that a photographer could stand in the hallway inside a home in England and actually be able to look in and shoot what was happening in each bedroom. You can see everything going on at the same time.
Everything seemed older there, as well. America is a young country. There is more of a sense of history in the photos we took in England because people are living in homes that date back to the 15th century.
Why is this book being called a “time capsule of American life?
This book is going to be even more interesting 100 years from now than it is today. Imagine if someone had done something like this in 1890 before electricity (and) before the Internet. … The way we see history is distorted by Hollywood. This book gets to show what life is really like.
What makes you most proud of this book?
We were able to be inclusive and show pictures of so many different lifestyles without calling out any one particular lifestyle. We have pictures of old people and young, gay couples and disabled. But it’s never called out as that. These pictures simply show their stories.
Sheba R. Wheeler: 303-954-1283 or swheeler@denverpost.com
