Picture Series
Hayley Austin The Springs
This man works on the Strip in Las Vegas, shocking curious tourists with the enormous snake that winds itself around his body. He lays it around the tourists’ shoulders, takes a photo with their mobile phones and expects a tip in return. He was just counting the cash with the snake around his wrist when I asked to take a photo. But time is money. He held out his hand for a fraction of a second, and I took this snapshot. I gave him a dollar – apparently not enough. Angry, he threw it back at me.
I met Brian on the Strip. He is the same age as me, but looks much older. He told me that he had just got out of prison after 13 years because he had “done something stupid as a kid”. At the last minute, he came to Las Vegas with his girlfriend and 8,000 dollars. They took the most expensive hotel room they could find, and he proposed. They spent all his money; she turned him down. Now he’s on the street. The only thing left of his 8,000 dollars is a brand-new skateboard.
A homeless woman who has just awakened after sleeping on the street.
The remains of the Moulin Rouge Casino, built in the 1950s for African Americans, who were not allowed into the other casinos in Las Vegas. For racist reasons the Italian Mafia, which controlled business in Las Vegas, ordered the casino to close one week after it had opened. It stood empty for years and recently burnt down. This is all that is left.
People stand at the bus stop in Paradise, Nevada. The centre of Las Vegas, where all the casinos are located, is actually its own municipality called Paradise.
A homeless man lies on the bridge spanning the Las Vegas Strip. This is the only place to rest or beg. The sidewalks are private casino property; security can have people forcibly removed.
A woman at a costume party in Las Vegas.
A dog at a dog show in Las Vegas. His ears have been cropped to make him easier to take care of.
A woman shows off her fingernails by a fountain on the Strip. 150 years ago, Las Vegas (Span.: “the meadows”) was an oasis fed by subterranean springs. The springs dried up. Now, 2.5 million people live on the water supplied by the Colorado River. This place is a resource killer, an inhabitable illusion made possible only by extensive imports.
The Desert Mermaids synchronised swimming team practice their choreography in a backyard pool. Around 70 per cent of the area’s water flows into lawns, parks and golf courses. Lake Mead, the source of 90 per cent of this water, is gradually drying up. A recent ruling rescinds earlier approval for the Southern Nevada Water Authority concerning groundwater rights in extensive rural areas of Lincoln and White Pine Counties. If things continue as they are, Las Vegas will run out of water in this century.
Trevor on his way home from church. The first thing he said to me was: “I’ve won and lost several fortunes. Now I live in peace because I’ve found god.”
A cactus in Las Vegas.
A member of the Mt. Liberty Baptist Church congregation. Most people who attend this church, which is located in a two-room bungalow, originally come from the South. This woman was born in Mississippi and came to Las Vegas to find work. Here she holds fans, souvenirs to help tourists ward off the approaching heat. It is February.
A drag queen at the Jewish Community Centre in Las Vegas.
In a city that produces nothing and whose main industry is tourism, people often have nothing to sell but themselves. You can see it in the people hustling on the Strip or marketing themselves at trade fairs. This eight-month-old boy is being crowned Mister Nevada in a beauty pageant.
This man dressed as Superman poses with tourists on the Strip in exchange for tips. He works six days a week and has no fixed address. People like this, who dress up and sell themselves as superheroes or anime stars, are constantly picked up by the police for working without a permit. It is not possible to get a permit for this type of work.
Nothing lasts long here. The name Las Vegas (Span.: “the meadows”) recalls the Mormon settlement that was established here in the 1850s: it was doomed to failure. Mining was subject to boom and bust periods, and the large gold reserves were farther north in Goldfield and Tonopah. By 1900, Nevada had depopulated to such an extent – Las Vegas had only 25 inhabitants – that it was threatened with the loss of its statehood. The two women in this photo have married at a drive-through chapel on Valentine’s Day. It is the third marriage for both of them.
A man dressed up as the Statue of Liberty. I saw him standing on the corner every day, holding a sign advertising a tax office called Liberty Tax. He spoke only Spanish.
A porn star and a sex doll made in her image pose at the AVN Adult Entertainment Expo, which takes place every year in Las Vegas.
The hope that hard work will guarantee at least a well-paid job and home ownership remains a dream for many people. Poverty and homelessness are increasing. It is telling that no other American city has a greater difference in life expectancy between rich and poor. With this photo-reportage, I would like to give a face to this turmoil and juxtaposition.
When she was eight years old, photographer Hayley Austin spent the summer in her grandparents’ air-conditioned gem in Las Vegas – in a neighbourhood where the streets are named for Italian villages. This city, once supplied with water by subterranean springs and named after green meadows, is now a city of dreams cemented with desert sand, a symbol of quick fame. Many come to the desert metropolis and hope that hard work will lead to a good job and a home of their own, or at least that they will be able to take a break from everyday life. However, poverty and homelessness are on the rise in Las Vegas. No other American city has a greater difference in life expectancy between rich and poor. Hayley Austin draws a picture of a society of exuberant optimists and suntanned, weary people who admit that the American Dream is as dry as the springs that once made Las Vegas green.
- Artificiality
- Beauty
- Optimisation
- Play
- USA
*1984 in Fort Worth, USA
In 2015, Hayley Austin completed her studies with a master’s degree of Photography from Bielefeld University of Applied Sciences. Since then, she has lived in Hamburg and worked as a freelance photographer and picture editor. The main focus of her work is portrait photography and people’s relationships with their surroundings. Austin’s photography has been shown in the USA and Europe.
