Espen Rasmussen

Rolando (11) and his mother Maria Arrojo selling candy floss (cotton candy) outside a primary school. Hard.Land is a journey through rust belt and blue collar America to meet the people struggling to keep the 'American Dream' alive: the middle class, the unemployed, the new poor, the workers on low or minimum wages and those who have had their benefits cut. Photographer Espen Rasmussen and journalist Roy Freddy Andersen travelled from Chicago to Detroit and on to Youngstown (OH), Beckley (WV), Williamsport (PA), ending their trip in New York. Their journey focuses on ordinary people and the consequences of globalisation, mechanisation and the growing gap between rich and poor in the US. The decline of industries such as car building in Detroit and mining in West Virginia have brought about a shift for millions of workers into low paid service jobs which is changing the social fabric of many parts of the US.