Systems of Harmony

“Systems of Harmony” is a personal portrait of contemporary suburban USA.

In the 19th century a large number of Europeans and Americans went to great lengths to establish small utopian communities throughout North America. They were preachers, social reformers, industrialists, philosophers, anarchists, journalists and socialist thinkers who attracted large crowds to their intentional colonies. Nevertheless they were exclusive establishments, some religious in character, that saw in the vastness of the American wilderness a favorable economic, political and social environment. They didn’t last long: some a few months, others a few years.

I traveled to many of these former utopias drawn to their often evocative and tenderly pretentious names such as Utopia, New Harmony or Modern Times, out of curiosity for what those places look like now and wondering where America is, 150 years later.