Nebraska creative Bill Ganzel has used photography, video and the written word to tell complex narrative stories since the 1970s. From his Lincoln, Neb. base he’s undertaken two ambitious independent projects requiring extensive travel and centering around the same big idea. Each draws on a vast photo archive of an American epoch. Dust Bowl Descent channels the Farm Security Administration’s portrait of the Great Depression and draught that wreaked havoc across 1930s America, particularly in the Great Plains. Sixties Survivors revisits Look Magazine’s chronicling of the tumultuous 1960s with its rolling crises of war, civil rights, countercultural ferment and social-political unrest.
The bookend projects share the same basic approach of “honoring rich photo archives” that reside in history. Leading image-makers of the day were the photographers. Ganzel’s projects echoe their work. Decades ago he caught up with individuals originally documented by the FSA in the ’30s. More recently he’s caught up with folks profiled by Look in the ’60s. In each case, he asked subjects to reflect on those earlier times and describe the life they’ve lived since then, making new portraits of them to live next to the historical ones.
Leo Adam Biga takes an in-depth look at Ganzel and his work beginning on page 9.