The Americans by Aaron Patton

09/29/2026

I’ve been sitting on this project for months, and am excited to finally get to share some of it! In the summer of 2025, very early in The Americans Project, Wichita Foundation approached me and proposed that we work together to tell 40 stories for their 40th anniversary. This commission helped give me the runway to take The Americans on the road for our last three tours, and I’m very grateful for their support!

I’ll let you go to their page to see the official rollout, but one of the early portraits was No. 0372 here, who had been incredibly influential in the progress in my hometown, and who I’m now glad to call a friend.

09/16/2026

Sometimes, being on tour is doing interviews, setting up in big venues, and having a line of people waiting to be a part of this project.

Sometimes it's setting up in a buddy's garage in Vegas, photographing a burlesque performer.

We've got another tour starting in two weeks! Who knows what we'll find.

09/13/2026

No. 0245 — Clerk
Born: Tulsa, OK
Photographed: Georgetown, CO (2025)

0245 was reluctant to be photographed. She was nervous and told me so several times. Something I understand more than most - it can be difficult to give control of your image to someone you just met two minutes ago. Still, I encouraged her to be a part, and she did.

I never know how people will react to their portraits. I'm not seeking to flatter or idealize or anything like that; I just try to photograph how my interaction with someone makes me see them (and sometimes that interaction is very brief). I didn't know how she'd feel about it.

It was after this tour that I created the StoryLine, a way for participants to enter the archive on their terms, telling their own stories in their words. I e-mailed it to everybody I met on that tour, hoping some would call in.

0245 was the first to do so, and her story is incredible. It's on the website if you catch it.

From maybe the most nervous to the first call on StoryLine - this portrait (and this person) mean a lot to me.

09/09/2026

No. 0333 - Hotelier
born: Dallas, TX
photographed: Tucumcari, NM

Not every person I add to the archive is planned. We didn't have a tour stop in Tucumcari, just a late night arrival and early morning exit on the long drive back from Window Rock to Wichita.

But, we stopped at the Roadrunner Lodge right there on Route 66, a perfect throwback spot - 60s ads on the radio in the room when you first walk in, everything from the towels to the fixtures redone to feel like you stepped back in time. It was late when we checked in, but the owner was there to hand us a key.

I walked out to go to our room...and then turned around and walked right back into the lobby. Told No. 0333 about the project, asked if he'd be around in the morning when there was more light. It was a Friday night, but he was set to be there bright and early Saturday, too.

In talking to him, we learned that he bought the place in shambles in 2014 (like other nearby abandoned motels) and turned it into the USA Today number 1 best roadside motel in 2021.

By 2025 when we stopped through, the magic was still there. One of the few bright spots (literally and figuratively) left on the Mother Road in Tucumcari.

07/04/2026

06/30/2026

No. 0164 - Remodeling Contractor
b. Rosebud, SD
p. Wichita, KS (2025)

In his words:

Honored to be featured as No. 0164 in The Americans by Aaron Patton.

Born in Rosebud. Built in struggle. Grounded in purpose.
I carry my story in every scar, every tile I lay, and every home I rebuild.

I represent the ones who weren’t supposed to make it, the ones who rise anyway. The ones who remember where they come from and build something better-brick by brick
—for the ones coming next.

From the rez to the city, l’m not just remodeling homes — I’m restoring dignity, reclaiming legacy, and proving that tradition and craftsmanship still matter.

Wopila, Aaron, for seeing me.

06/18/2026

No. 0560 - Psychologist
born: Albert Lea, MN
photographed: Watertown, SD (2026)

His entire career was working with veterans, hearing their stories, re-living the stories they’ve kept buried. So, I asked him to look at the camera as though he was hearing a new patient speak for the first time.

06/03/2026

🔈sound on 🔈 THE AMERICANS is an archive being built of people, stories, identities at a time of turmoil and progress, unrest and upheaval, as the nation ends its first quarter millennium.

With portraits and oral histories from every corner of the nation, this project isn’t setting out to make any claims, but instead simply seeks evidence.

05/01/2026

Next tour starts at Niobrara, NE, in 10 days! We’re doing a different approach this time - always iterating and testing the best ways to do things. If you know anyone in Fargo, ND; Medora, ND; or Scottsbluff, NE, tag them in the comments.

In the meantime, here is No. 0491 from Texarkana.

04/24/2026

Last Fall, I introduced the “Story Line” where participants in the series could call in and leave a two-minute story of themselves for the archive. In their words, not mine.

The portraits are my version of people. The stories are theirs.