Drive out of Fort Hood, the sprawling military base in Texas, and you’ll spot a road sign: ‘You survived the war, now survive the roads.’
It’s one of the great ironies of modern warfare – soldiers are often in as much mortal danger at home as they are in a warzone. ‘And, for veterans home from war, the vehicle is a very dangerous place,’ says the American photographer ML Casteel.
Casteel was at a ‘strange intersection’ of his life. He had returned from a spell living in Alaska to move back in with his parents in Asheville, North Carolina. ‘I needed a job, and was willing to take anything,’ he says. He accepted the first opportunity that came along – as a parking valet for a local military veterans hospital.
Courtesy of Dewi Lewis Publishing
The job taught him a stark lesson. ‘For veterans, war brushes up into everyday life,’ he says. ‘It nestles amongst other problems. It creeps into the most mundane experiences. And, for some reason, those issues manifest themselves very starkly in a veteran’s car.’
For the next seven years, he would greet thousands of veterans, take their keys and park their car. With a small camera kept hidden in his pocket, and without letting his colleagues see, he would then quickly photograph the interior of the veteran’s car. He took more than 2,000 such pictures, holding the camera beneath the dash so as to avoid detection. ‘It felt like looking into someone’s chest of drawers,’ he says.
After a seven year gestation, Casteel’s clandestine work has resulted in the photobook American Interiors, published by Dewi Lewis Publishing. Casteel photographs have an honesty and intensity that dig deeper than a conventional portrait. They’re small, incomplete studies of trauma and addiction – at once hyper-masculine and deeply vulnerable. ‘They’re pictures of enduring internal wounds,’ he says.
Courtesy of Dewi Lewis Publishing
He opens the book with some startling statistics. College-educated veterans, on average, earn $10,000 less than civilians. Around one in seven homeless adults have served their country. Every day, 22 veterans take their own lives in America – that’s almost one suicide every hour.
Yet the nature of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is often misunderstood. Studies have shown chronic trauma is primarily determined not by what happened in the war, but by how alienated soldiers feel once they return home. As such, the vast majority of veteran suicides are amongst ageing soldiers whom served in more historical wars. Many of the vehicles shown in Casteel’s book belong to veterans of earlier wars – the first Gulf war, Vietnam, Korea, even the Second World War.
The images contain many of the things we might expect – and hope – to find; photos of family, children’s toys, letters from loved ones. There’s often religious iconography or the American flag. Yet they often lie alongside more troubling signifiers – crates of beer, bottles of spirits, cans of dog food overflowing with ash and cigarette butts, pornography, guns and knives, pills and syringes.
Courtesy of Dewi Lewis Publishing
Many of the veterans Casteel met struggle with addiction, or had compulsive relationships with weapons and firearms. ‘I would park a car for a particular veteran who kept a holster for his gun directly beneath his steering wheel, so he had access to it all the time,’ he says.
Another veteran had a gambling issue. ‘The passenger side of his car was piled high, from the footwell upwards, with scratch tickets. The steering wheel was covered in dust from the scratched-off tickets. I would wash my hands after parking his car.’ Many were alcoholics, or abused substances: ‘One day, a veteran who had been dry for a long time went to the supermarket and drank three bottles of Listerine.’
‘But I couldn’t help but respect them,’ he says. ‘They entered military service voluntarily, they did the bidding of the people that make the wars, and here they are, often decades later, still living with the consequences.’
From the series American Interiors, by ML Casteel.
From the series American Interiors, by ML Casteel.
From the series American Interiors, by ML Casteel.
From the series American Interiors, by ML Casteel.
From the series American Interiors, by ML Casteel.
From the series American Interiors, by ML Casteel.
From the series American Interiors, by ML Casteel.
From the series American Interiors, by ML Casteel.
From the series American Interiors, by ML Casteel.
From the series American Interiors, by ML Casteel.
From the series American Interiors, by ML Casteel.
INFORMATION
American Interiors, £28, published by Dewi Lewis Publishing. For more information, visit ML Casteel’s website
-
Bocci and Anna Carnick join forces on a showcase of evocative design practices in Berlin'Crafting Community' is on view at Berlin's Wilhelm Hallen until 14 September 2025
-
The story behind a one-of-a-kind Dieter Rams handbag, reborn by German leather brand TsatsasA new exhibition at Vitsœ’s London store celebrates the ‘931’ bag, designed by Dieter Rams for his wife Ingeborg in 1963 and reborn over half a century later in a collaboration between Rams and German leather accessories brand Tsatsas
-
A Miami pied-à-terre channels Art Deco glamour and endless summerInterior designer Olga Malyev reimagines a South of Fifth apartment with bold colour, vintage treasures and a sunlit spirit that captures Miami’s timeless allure
-
Stephen Prina borrows from pop, classical and modern music: now MoMA pays tribute to his performance work‘Stephen Prina: A Lick and a Promise’ recalls the artist, musician, and composer’s performances, and is presented throughout MoMA. Prina tells us more
-
Curtains up, Kid Harpoon rethinks the sound of Broadway production ‘Art’He’s crafted hits with Harry Styles and Miley Cyrus; now songwriter and producer Kid Harpoon (aka Tom Hull) tells us about composing the music for the new, all-star Broadway revival of Yasmina Reza’s play ‘Art’
-
Richard Prince recontextualises archival advertisements in TexasThe artist unites his ‘Posters’ – based on ads for everything from cat pictures to nudes – at Hetzler, Marfa
-
The best Ruth Asawa exhibition is actually on the streets of San FranciscoThe artist, now the subject of a major retrospective at SFMOMA, designed many public sculptures scattered across the Bay Area – you just have to know where to look
-
Orlando Museum of Art wants to showcase more Latin American and Hispanic artists. Do you fit the bill?The Florida gallery calls for for Hispanic and Latin American artists to submit their work for an ongoing exhibition
-
Cult classic ‘Teenagers in Their Bedrooms’ captures the angst of being a teenAre 1990s teens so different? Three decades after its original release, this photography book by Adrienne Salinger has been published again, by DAP
-
The spread of Butter: the Black-owned art fair where artists see all the profitsThe Indianapolis-based art fair is known for bringing Black art to the forefront. As it ventures out of state to make its Los Angeles debut, we speak with founders Mali and Alan Bacon to find out more
-
Steve Martin wants you to visit The Frick CollectionThe actor has appeared in a video promoting New York’s newly renovated art museum
