The lesser-known side of Wilco’s guitarist, in Malaga: the photographer of a decaying America

"Look, here for example, someone decided to paint that orange frame on a blue door. I think it’s lovely," says Patrick Sansone, standing in front of a photograph of one of those places that were once full of life.

When he’s not on stage with Wilco, one of the most influential and chameleon-like bands in American alternative rock, the musician captures his surroundings with his analogue camera, through a reflective and ironic lens; images that are now on display at Málaga Espacio Expositivo Tabacalera (MEET).

Noticings, curated by Juanjo M. Fuentes, portrays the decline of the American heartland through the traces of a better past: weathered billboards, shuttered shop windows, empty plots, rusting cars and boarded-up buildings that exude nostalgia and speak of a changing world. All this is achieved through carefully chosen compositions, with meticulous attention to colour and light. Although he travels the world with his camera, this series draws on his numerous road trips – alone or with the band – between 2019 and 2024 through the southern United States, passing through places that have fallen into oblivion and ghost towns ravaged by the economic crisis and the pandemic.

In a way, they represent the end of the American dream, but the artist points out: "With my photography, I’m not trying to say anything; I’m trying to see something", denying any political intent in his work. However, when asked whether there are any parallels with other current social and political declines, he does believe that these images can "be extrapolated to things that are happening in many places". "My photography is a way of remembering. It carries a certain sense of longing for what is being lost, and it is a way of holding on to it so that we do not forget," he says.

His main motivation is to seek out beauty where others see only ruins and neglect. He has always been ‘drawn’ to these liminal spaces, as if frozen in time – deserted settings that were once teeming with people. There is no trace of human beings in any of his pieces, only evidence of their absence. We see a disused concert hall (with ‘musicians only’ written on the door), a hairdresser’s with the La Unique sign half-faded, and an abandoned shop where two items of clothing still hang in the window.

“I grew up in Mississippi in the 1970s, when it was already changing and becoming a sort of lost world. I think that because it was such a small, quiet place, it gave me the chance to stop and observe it. And that has stayed with me,” he explained. For him, photography is a kind of ‘meditation’. That is why he prefers analogue to digital, as it allows for a "more reflective and slower" process.

A guitarist with Wilco and The Autumn Defense, photography is his most personal pursuit – undertaken without any commercial aim, purely for the pleasure of doing it. He has published two books featuring a selection of his work, the most recent bearing the same title as this exhibition (Noticings).

In the United States, he has exhibited his photographs in small venues, but the collection on display at Tabacalera from now until January is the most ambitious he has put together to date.

The exhibition, organised in collaboration with the La Caixa Foundation, forms part of the programme for Moments, a festival of contemporary art and culture which continues to grow in Málaga and at its Madrid branch, now in its thirteenth edition.

Patrick Sansone says that what drives him is “curiosity, travelling and looking with an open mind”. And that happens to him anywhere in the world, including in Malaga. Whilst waiting for the taxi that would take him to MEET for the presentation, he took two photos. “I would have liked to stay there a bit longer and wander about with my camera, but I had to come here. The light in Máalaga is very special,” he says. Perhaps it will inspire him to organise a new exhibition in the city.