“Simulation… is no longer a question of imitation, nor duplication, nor even parody. “ Jean Baudrillard

For those of us born outside the United States, our impressions of the country are formed through American television, Hollywood movies, magazines and advertising. In fact, when I came to America, it felt familiar, and I experienced déjà vu.

One morning shortly after I arrived, I was eating a classic American breakfast at a diner in Coney Island. As I gazed through the restaurant window, on that sunny day in March, I noticed a man reading a book under a palm tree. Palm trees do not grow in New York. It was plastic. So I grabbed my camera to make a picture of this surreal scenario.

That day marked the beginning of this series. I started to create a portrait of vernacular man-made landscapes composed of fantasies, thoughts and dreams. They are, in a way, a physical extension of all those images I had seen growing up. Their presence in the the public domain tell imaginary stories of the American ethos, substituting the original with a fabrication.

To my immigrant eye, they are an American typography and its pastiche - a simulacrum of American values and collective memory.

digital photography. 30x40 inches