Above Untitled from Less Vegas. (©Mauro D’Agati/Courtesy of Ahrens Editions).

Italian photographer Mauro D’Agati is well known for his powerful social documents of various regions of his homeland, particularly Naples, Palermo, and Sicily. But with his latest work, Less Vegas, we see the photographers focus shift to North America, and in particular Las Vegas.

Whilst the self-titled ‘entertainment capital of the world,’ has long held an attraction for photographers, D’Agati goes beyond the facade and superficiality of Las Vegas so frequently depicted, to present an oblique view of this notoriously transient city through the daily lives of 12 long-term residents, Barry ‘Jesus,’ Howard, Mr. T, ‘Lenny Bruce, Bob, Linda, Dr. P, Bill ‘Elvis,’ Morgan, Boot, Denny, and Vincent.

Above Untitled from Less Vegas. (©Mauro D’Agati/Courtesy of Ahrens Editions).

On the fringe of society, amongst the backlots and alleyways, low-rent motels and casino’s we encounter D’Agati’s ‘cast.’ Here we meet, Barry ‘Jesus,’ homeless and wandering the Freemont Street area, surviving on what he can find in the myriad of alley dumpsters, whilst he waits for the insurance settlement owed following the the death of his father. D’Agati writes, ‘Barry, like Jesus, serves as a visionary, urging us to photograph his dumpster dwellings not only to demonstrate what it is like to live on the streets with little means, but to preach about the plethora of good food going to waste.’

Then there is Mr. T, a former trucker who lost his job through diabetes, and now spends his days around the Freemont area, and resting outside the Gold Spike Hotel ‘as it were one of his favourite rest stops,’ where ‘Little T,’ a small teddy bear given to him by a friend is his main companion. And just 45 minutes from the central Las Vegas, we find Eldorado Canyon, the site of the oldest, and most famous of southern Nevada’s gold mines, where Denny, a Californian who moved to Nevada to look after his mothers ranch, now spends his days drinking cheap beer, and living in a house with no shower, a situation he  considers a ‘minor inconvenience.’

Above Untitled from Less Vegas. (©Mauro D’Agati/Courtesy of Ahrens Editions).

Fourteen year ago, Linda was married in Vegas’ Little White Chapel, and lives with her husband, and a stray grey cat that ‘they stumbled upon in the street,’ in the Siegel Suites, a semi-permanent residential complex for long-tern Vegas visitors. Although unemployed she ‘works’ the slot machines of the Golden Spike Casino — which is central to D’Agati’s narrative — like a true professional.

Tracing the everyday lives of his characters, with their varying and fascinating stories, D’Agati presents the textures and rhythms of the city, from a perspective usually hidden behind the neon lights and glamour of the Las Vegas strip.

Less Vegas is published by Ahrens Editions.