A selection of images from “Riddle,” by Brooklyn, New York-based photographer and artist Fiona Véronique. Originally from France, Véronique’s work centers around place-identity, and the ways in which people relate to their surroundings. Transfixed by the overlooked details of quotidian life, she shines a light on these moments and reveals the eerie, unusual, and at times humorous aspects of the everyday. 

Published as a photobook by Antics Publications in 2020, “Riddle” follows a road trip Véronique took with her sister, from Seattle, Washington to Elko Nevada. Inspired by the poets of the National Cowboy Poetry Gathering that takes place in Elko each year, an event where poets and storytellers come together to tell tales of life in the West, Veronique set out to construct a visual poem from the landscapes and people she encountered along the way. “The poem navigates the close, yet at times contradictory relationship between the Far West and American identity;” she explains— “between the romantic ideal of its pristine wilderness, its freedom, its promise, and the actual day-to-day business of existence in a formidable land.”

See more from “Riddle” below!