Alec Soth 
American, b. 1969 
Brian, Williston, North Dakota, 2012
Archival pigment print
_{© 2012 Alec Soth}

Making the best of the metal barrel he uses as a bench, an alert, but exhausted, oil worker named Brian catches a moment of respite. In search of images that could capture the soul of smaller, rural communities throughout the United States, Alec Soth took this photograph in Williston, in North Dakota's remote northwestern territory. Technological advances in oil exploration during the early 2010's put this town on the map for the first time for many Americans. Soth doesn't show the boomtown, he captures this one man in a non-descript location, in this evocative portrait. Brian is seated in a dignified pose, covered with mud, dirt and oil from his demanding work; his gaze penetrates outward, thoughtfully and quietly. Brian is a personification of our expansive contemporary experience; a man Soth finds at the crossroads of his community and a moment of solitude.