Mexico, 1976

After studying photojournalism at American University in Washington D.C. and a first photo assignment with President Nixon and Soviet President Brezhnev, Hayman returned to street photography. Photojournalism was too restrictive and obedient to the news cycle, so he began experimenting with his own artistic vision using those skill sets.

Hayman traveled to Mexico to put together a portfolio that would later allow him to study film in the graduate program at New York University.

The photographs in Mexico are Hayman’s earliest attempts to merge his photojournalism background with his personal love of cinematography and old black-and-white films in order to create photographic narratives.

Guatemala, 1976

While photographing in Mexico to build his portfolio, Guatemala was struck by a devastating 7.5 magnitude earthquake. Hayman immediately traveled to the neighboring country and began volunteering for the UN’s disaster relief efforts.

While there, he documented his love for the environment and the people who lived there, a trait he would continue throughout all his future work.

Through an unabashedly humanist lens, these photographs depict a time and a place deeply rooted in its historic moment but also universal in their exploration of what constitutes resilience, life, and community. 

United States, lates 1970s / early 1980s

Returning stateside, Hayman and his new portfolio of humanist images allowed him to study film in the graduate program at New York University. He went on to become a cinematographer on independent films in New York for about 15 years.

He continued photographing various parts of the country, drawing from his love of black-and-white movies from the 1930s and 40s, and honing his artistic eye.

Texasville, 1989

While on the set of the film, Texasville, Hayman began taking photographs of the production as well as the town of Wichita Falls. As he chronicled them both, he observed that they melded together becoming indistinguishable from one another. 

By focusing on imagery typically associated with Americana, especially our understanding of the American West, these photographs reveal how reality fluctuates between fixity and artifice. What is imagined and what is real are the questions that arise from the exploration of this microcosm.