Espen Rasmussen

Nine year old Tyshawn Lee was shot at the end of 2015 in Chicago’s South Side, an area with one of the highest murder rates in the US.

“Chicago glorified violence since Al Capone” says Derek Darren. “You think of Chicago, you think of a gangster city.”

Hard.Land is a multimedia project – a journey through Blue Collar America to meet the people struggling to keep the American Dream alive: The middle class, the unemployed, the new poor, the workers on low or minimum wage – and those who have lost benefits and had their salaries slashed.

From Chicago to Detroit, Youngstown, Beckley, Williamsport and finally New York, reporter Roy Freddy Andersen and photographer Espen Rasmussen tell stories of people who are facing difficult times, and those who still have work, but often on minimum wages.

Project webpage: hard.land
Facebook: facebook.com/myhardland
Instagram: myhardland
Twitter: myhardland

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If you are interested this film or have any questions please contact marina@panos.co.uk directly.