Espen Rasmussen

Rose Thompson is 25 years old and lives with her one year old daughter Alyah and her husband Josh in a 64 square feet (6 square meter) room in a an apartment block in in West Chicago.

“My wage is 8,36 dollar per hour. I am not even close to being able to pay my bills, buy food and live a pleasant life. People are angry. They’re frustrated. We need to take this fight. McDonald’s earned five billion dollars last year. Five billion! With a B. And I need to get food stamps to survive. It’s not right. It’s not fair.”

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.