"Arles 1998. The end of my photography studies. Although I've never been to the United States, I come up with a book titled Le Voyage américain, which brings together the photos that shaped my view of America and of photography itself.

2011. After 17 visits my cultural and political references have changed. What if the land of America was a necessary part of hooking into this imaginary reality? Every image, every piece of work is different, startling and weird even, but every one is part of an immense whole. My path between reality and photography. This America that forces its visual memory on every photographer who goes there."

Jean-Christophe Béchet