TORRA, Federico
Little America

“Limousines, skyscrapers, trucks, deserts, rocks, sequoias, motels, rattle snakes and architectural landmarks. All these belongs to the typical attributes of modern American urban landscape as well as its iconic natural wonders. Both sides of USA can be found in this thematic photographic essay that illustrates what we can call American vernacular. The journey starts in San Francisco with the iconic skyscrapers of the architects John Portman and William Pereira. Architectural monuments frame the everyday life, here captured in its complexity and contradiction, observed from the distance of a visitor and a silent explorer.
Throughout the book, we follow a journey down to the South; we see how motives changes from the urban perspective to vast horizontal landscapes of sandy deserts, massive trunks of sequoia trees and deep rocky valleys of Utah. We see raw natural beauty in the contrast of human impact. Organic lines of streamlined rocks in contrast with luxury cars and trucks parked somewhere in between. Without evidence of life, they are frozen in time.
Federico’s trip finishes in Arizona where we can again see some cult modern architecture. He visits the utopian city of Arcosanti, designed by the architect dreamer Paolo Soleri, as well as the cradle of American modernism, the legendary Taliesin West, the architecture studio of Frank Lloyd Wright in Phoenix. The trip starts and ends with the architecture.
Looking at these photos I am thinking about the generations who went to USA to make their American dream come true. Old settlers were finding their new homes, beat generation writers searched for a freedom and modern architects and designers like Mario Bellini or Roberto Venturi and Denis Scott Brown looked for an inspiration. This evocative series pay tribute to all these visionaries who are blessed to look, observe and inspire us through their art.”

—Adam Štěch

Self-Published, 2024
Design by Francesco Valtolina & Nicola Narbone
Photography