Sergio Purtell arrived in the USA in the early 1970s, having fled an imminent dictatorship in Chile, by General Augusto Pinochet. Here he glimpsed the American dream, and sought to unravel the nations mysteries as an outsider who had witnessed the capriciousness of power and the tenacity of the displaced.

Made between 1977 and the early-90s Sergio Purtell’s American photographs are imprints of life in a country fixated on its duelling myths of emancipation and conquest. From collective exuberance to rural serenity, Purtell’s images of fairs, parades and a life lived outside, display moments both commonplace and distinct. They search out under-swells of feelings that fleck public space with intimacy and interaction. They register the human tenderness that flows from rare moments of rest.