Book Presentation: The Americans I Met

The Americans I Met

Book Presentation and Discussion with
Viktor Hübner, Photojournalist and Author
and Martina Buttler, Former ARD Radio Correspondent in Washington, D.C.

Thursday, September 11, 2025 | 7:00 p.m.
Altes Pfandhaus | Kartäuserwall 20 | 50678 Cologne

Between 2017 and 2019, German photojournalist and author Viktor Hübner hitchhiked through 41 U.S. states, covering more than 26,000 kilometers. With no fixed route and equipped only with a camera, audio recorder, and a few supplies, he traveled through cities and rural areas alike, relying entirely on the hospitality of strangers. With disarming curiosity and openness, he met people from all walks of life—prison guards, vagabonds, religious leaders, drug dealers, cowboys, and plastic surgeons. Along the way, he encountered an America marked by deep social tensions and documented personal stories and lived realities during one of the most politically turbulent periods in recent U.S. history.

Hübner’s project The Americans I Met captures a time of profound upheaval, when divides across social, ethnic, and political lines became especially stark. Through in-depth conversations and intimate portraits of the people who hosted him, he traced their fears, hopes, and perspectives, offering a compelling look at everyday life in America and the many viewpoints on its political climate.

Viktor Hübner received his Bachelor’s degree in Visual Communication from the University of Applied Sciences Mainz in 2016 and a Master of Fine Arts in Photography from the Rhode Island School of Design in 2019. His work has earned him multiple awards, including the Rosanne Somerson Scholarship, a RISD Fellowship, and a Fulbright grant. His project Distanz (2016) documented a hitchhiking journey from Jordan through Israel to Germany, crossing nine countries in 82 days with minimal equipment, positioning himself as a participant observer. Life Is for Us drew on his visit to the PKK in northern Iraq during the war against ISIS, offering insights into their ideology, goals, and influence through a combination of photography, audio, and text. With The Americans I Met, Hübner brings together photographic portraits and conversations with people he met while hitchhiking across the United States, probing what it means to be American today and the personal and political questions that shape people’s lives.