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InspirationPhotography

Last Best Hope: Juan Aballe captures the fading memory of the American Dream in California

"Know ye that on the right hand of the Indies exists an island called California very close to a side of the Earthly Paradise."

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Via Creative Boom submission. All images courtesy of Juan Aballe

Via Creative Boom submission. All images courtesy of Juan Aballe

So reads the extract from Las Sergas de Esplandián by Garci Rodríguez de Montalvo, which forms the inspiration by this sensitive photo series by Juan Aballe.

The idea for the work began in 2011 when the Madrid photographer wanted to escape the city, the rat-race and all its subsequent consumerism. This, of course, inspired Country Fictions, a collection of images that documented a community of people who had done just that: left the urban sprawl to enjoy a simpler life in the country.

Last Best Hope is Juan's new body of work that follows a similar theme but refers more to the feelings of hope. Understanding the motivations behind every person, either love or money, these photographs of Oakland, California, show a community looking to survive in uncertain times while hoping for a better future. It documents the very people that chose America as their home, in search of better lives, only to find that they might not be as welcome any more.

It's a fragile and delicate visual essay of one small pocket of Trump's America, hoping that one day, things will be better for the immigrants that moved there. More at juanaballe.com.

Man in work clothes leaning against a railing outside a corrugated metal building, looking pensively to the side
A man in a blue jacket and hat stands alone on an empty street beside a pale blue-green building with shuttered doors and windows in Oakland, California.
American flags and patterned fabrics hang on a clothesline in a sparse yard in Oakland, with white flowers and greenery alongside a residential street
La Gloria beachside establishment with turquoise railings and blue canopy, reflecting landscape and white horse in its weathered storefront window
Row of weathered residential buildings in Oakland, California, including a turquoise storefront with Oakland Bait signage, cream and yellow-painted structures against a clear blue sky
Shuttered storefront with "National" signage and striped awning on a quiet street in Oakland, California
Woman with long dark hair wearing a vibrant red and green patterned embroidered garment, looking pensively to the side against a muted olive background
Wooden house with angled roof and triangular window against clear blue sky, flowering plants growing in front
A man in a pale green t-shirt sits on blue-painted porch steps of a white wooden house, holding a piece of rope
View through a window with cream curtains of a truck parked on a desert highway under a clear sky
Two men sit together on a dark sofa against a warm beige wall, with a potted plant visible to the left in Juan Aballe's Last Best Hope series documenting Oakland, California
Dimly lit street corner at dusk with a red traffic light, vintage Coca-Cola sign and small shop building next to an industrial structure in Oakland, California
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