Michael Dressel is a wanderer between American and German culture. His regular journeys between his hometowns on the American West Coast and Berlin have sensitized him to recognize the social changes of recent decades more clearly than most locals. His second book shows his view of American society on the eve of a historic election. Dressel’s images show a society on edge, marked by extreme nationalism, political polarization, religious fanaticism, and gun mania coupled with paranoia, pervasive poverty, and moral decay. His portraits are complemented by landscape photographs that speak their own gloomy language.

Biography
Born in East Berlin in 1958, Michael Dressel briefly studied set design at Weissensee Academy of Art Berlin. He spent two formative years in East German prisons following a failed escape attempt. After being released to the West, he briefly lived in West Berlin in 1985 before moving to Los Angeles, where he has been living ever since. Until recently, he worked as a sound editor for big movie productions in Hollywood, which, among other things, resulted in membership in the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Since his retirement from the movie industry, he divides his time between Los Angeles and Berlin when not travelling and photographing. His first photobook, Lost Angeles, was released jointly by Hartmann Books and Gingko Press in 2022.