According to the American Gun Violence Archive, 12,262 deaths, 24,959 injuries and 49,017 incidents were caused by firearms in the United States in 2017. Of all the firearms owned by private citizens worldwide, half are in the United States of America. They outnumber the country’s population: 393 to 328 million.

This is not a coincidence, nor is it a question of the market, but a question of tradition and constitutional guarantee. It is the story of the Second Amendment, ratified in 1791. Two hundred and fifty years later, it is still embedded in American life, as Gabriele Galimberti elaborates: “In my research, I came across a family in Texas that owns over 200 firearms, one in California that owns 80, and many others across the country.”

His object-enriched portraits illustrate the gun fetishism of people Galimberti describes as average citizens, “They are mostly normal people … I don’t comment on politics, I’m an observer. I work with humor and absurdity.”

Gabriele Galimberti. Born in 1977 in Val di Chiana, Italy. First working as an advertising photographer, he devotes himself to long-term documentary projects. Member of the artist collective Riverboom. Galimberti’s works have appeared in National Geographic, Stern, Geo, Le Monde, La Repubblica and Marie Claire. His images have been shown in many exhibitions, including Festival Images, Vevey; Les Rencontres de la Photographie, Arles; and the Victoria and Albert Museum, London. In 2021 he was awarded first prize in the “Portraits” category at the World Press Photo Awards for “The Ameriguns”.

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