Sleeping By The Mississippi is a series of photos artfully taken and published together in 2004 by Alec Soth, a world renowned photographer. With 52 pictures in total, Soth captures the essence of American life, following the winding path of the Mississippi River, and creatively encapsulates purpose and meaning in everyday moments, especially relating to his own personal memories. Growing up and living by the Mississippi in his youth, Soth captures his small personal memories that especially those familiar with the river are able to identify. An arching bridge located along the skyline, the wilderness and moments of human interaction that are prevalent walking along the Mississippi away from the roaring and bustling city, and the beauty in the river beyond a patch of wild, unruly shrubs. His history in the Midwest is presented through the diverse landscapes, from a summer sunset falling over a silver RV, to a barren field, in the waning moments till winter, to a snow covered house beside a frozen river.
Within Soth’s series, there are elements and photos that resonate deeply with me because I also grew up minutes away from the Mississippi in the sister city of St. Paul. I remember in spring, watching the water gush over the Lock and Dam and Minnehaha Falls, overlooking a bridge in the distance, my memory coming back as I reminisce over Soth’s alluring photo. Then summer days, riding my bike with my dad and sister downtown, seeing the smoke rise above the river, and watching the barges float downstream. In the fall, I walk at Fort Snelling, discovering how minutes away from the city there lay a serene and peaceful river, with no people in sight, the brush and twigs around me allowing a peak at the gorgeous river. His photos show a deep relevance to my childhood, that only a memory could create. However, my experience is just one perspective out of the millions that have encountered the river, a river that provides a memorable and special place in the hearts of the people who grew up near it. Soth’s photo series captures the American reality, the truths and real lives of the people who grew up and slept near this historic river, in contrast to the American dream that is constantly portrayed.
Everyone has dreams. These dreams are guided by the ones around you; family, friends, employers, teachers, among others. Youth in America are strongly influenced by their teachers especially, as much of the guidance many kids get are from these hard working and dedicated adults. From a young age in the modern era, students are told that they can be anything they want to be. They are told to follow their dreams. But these are dreams. Around 1 in 4 adults have student loan debt, many without jobs (Hess). This is outrageous. The truth is that not all dreams will be a reality. Charles, one of Soth’s most famous individual photographs, taken in Vasa, Minnesota in 2002, displays this idea with clarity. Here on the roof of a Minnesotan home, in the colder months of the year, stands a man who had a dream. Decked out in a green flying suit, and holding 2 model airplanes, it can be inferred that he once had dreams of becoming a pilot. Yet, here he is, in the cold of winter, paint splattered across his suit. While having a dream is important, to make it into a reality requires effort, dedication, and opportunity that many realistically will never achieve. As one of Soth’s most famous individual photos, he depicts to readers not the importance of living up to your wildest dreams and succeeding at everything you do, but the idea of finding another path, although it may be rougher and less ideal, to a new dream.
Since Europeans have travelled to the United States beginning in the early 15th century, this vast new continent has been known as the location of the pursuit of freedom, especially religion. America has been coined the “mixing pot” as many different cultures are intertwined in this diverse country. But is there freedom? Are we still a Christianity dominated country? Have our dreams about this land of oppertunity been fulfilled? In reference to Fort Jefferson Memorial Cross, a photograph taken in Wickliffe, Kentucky in 2002, Soth uses the large disproportion of the cross to the American flag, displaying this lack of freedom. He demonstrates the power religion, more specifically Christianity and the church, has on American society and American politics, a concept that was not part of the American dream to the immigrants many centuries ago arriving on this continent, and to immigrants arriving even more recently. Soth also makes a statement with the placement of the four incarcerated men standing in the foreground of the photo. Soth realistically depicts the ways the conviction and discrimination of people in the US has been wrongly justified on the basis of religion, not on the basis of US government policy.
Following in the footsteps of other famous storytellers on finding the meaning behind the nature of the American life, it is unsurprising that Soth took on the topic of the Mississippi. A century before, Mark Twain among others wrote about the simplicities in the American lifestyle, with the Mississippi being a focal point in many of these world renowned works. His keen eye for the subtle realities in his photographs comes from a childhood of shyness. This shyness is evident and is a major factor in being able to capture the raw truths of life by the Mississippi. Soth, in an interview with Aaron Schuman, published in Seesaw Magazine, mused that although the river has worn down from its busy forms in centuries past, “those that remain often make really creative and peculiar lives for themselves” (Schuman). He addresses the misassumptions that are created about America through the implications in television and movies. “We sometimes forget that there are whole other lives being lived in the middle of America,” Soth reflects as he thoughtfully describes how these unique lives inspired him to photograph the Mississippi (Schuman). These assumptions are abandoned as he explores these forgotten lives through his photo series.
As I walk on the well worn paths of Fort Snelling every year, walk on the sandy beaches, and walk down the scorching steps on Harriet Island that reach down into the waves of the Mississippi, I am reminded of the reality of the beauty that many portray the Mississippi to have. I have so many memories from this river, and I sadly wonder how many more memories this once sparkling and blue water will be able to provide in the future. The water that I look down upon is revolting. Trash and recycling float on top of the murky and oily water. The pungent smell of dead fish hits your nose before you see them, scattered along the shores. I am reminded of this as I scroll through Soth’s photo series, especially when I reached one in particular, from Helena, Arkansas in 2002 where a dirty, once white mattress is submerged within the water. The marshy shore that surrounds the mattress, home to thousands of different species of wildlife, is no longer point of emphasis. Instead the mattress consumes the focus of the audience, instead of the beauty of the natural environment. Soth examines and captures the truths behind the fabricated photos of the Mississippi that are shown in pamphlets and across the internet. The Mississippi has been the solid foundation for our country, used for travel and food long before the Europeans arrived. Soth’s pictures, and especially the mattress, represent the manifestation of our impact on the land, and encouragement for change.
When Americans think about the American Dream, many will invision Martin Luther King Jr. and other reform movements throughout the 18th and 19th centuries, from the Abolitionist Movement, to the Women’s Suffrage Movement, and finally to the Civil Rights Movement. Through the photo titled Jimmie’s Apartment, taken in Memphis, Tennessee in 2002, Soth seemingly captures the idealistic American Dream through multiple pictures of Martin Luther King Jr. pasted on an old wood door. Martin Luther King Jr. had a dream. To hundreds of thousands of people he proclaimed his American Dream. This speech is, and probably always will be one of the most significant speeches in American history. Martin Luther King Jr. had a dream, like almost every person in America, but the difference was he made his American dream the American reality. Soth adds this important photo in his series to give hope to everyone’s American dreams. Although the man in the flying suit, along with many others pictured in his series showed their lives unfulfilled desires and dreams, there are those who make their dreams a reality. These successful radicals are those who are determined and unable to be stopped, those who believe in something that is bigger than themselves, to a cause that is worth fighting for.
As Soth travels down the Mississippi River, his realistic depiction of the river and its watershed allows me to reminisce about my experiences with this historic landscape. He gives a deeper insight to the dreams of all of these people, and the realities that are hidden by the shadow of the American dream casting over the nation. Everyone has dreams. Dreams about your future, dreams about a perfect climate, and most importantly dreams about freedom and justice. However, in order to achieve your dreams, it is crucial to know the realities that are encapsulate everyday life. Life will not be a straight line. It will wind through states and through memories, like the Mississippi, but just remember that through all of those bends, the river eventually reaches its dream, the finish line to a 2,348 mile journey as it pours out into the Gulf of Mexico.
Works Cited
Hess, Abigail. “Here’s How Much the Average Student Loan Borrower Owes When They Graduate.” CNBC, CNBC, 15 Feb. 2018, www.cnbc.com/2018/02/15/heres-how-much-the-average-student-loan-borrower-owes-when-they-graduate.html.
Schuman, Aaron. “The Mississippi.” All of Me — An Interview with Elinor Carucci, Aug. 2004, www.aaronschuman.com/sothinterview.html.
“Sleeping by the Mississippi « Alec Soth.” Alec Soth, 2013, alecsoth.com/photography/?page_id=14.
