‘49 State Capitols’: A Tale of Travel and Suspicion

Travel Blog • Michael Yessis • 01.22.08 | 12:25 PM ET

I feel for Ramak Fazel. Not just because he ran out of money and couldn’t reach Juneau, Alaska, the 50th and final capitol in his quest, but because of the maddening difficulties he encountered as he trekked to the other 49 U.S. state capitol buildings for an art project that makes its debut tomorrow in New York City.

From a New York Times story by Kathryn Shattuck:

[H]e set out on a photographic and philatelic odyssey from his mother’s home in Fort Wayne, Ind. His mission was to photograph each of the nation’s 50 state capitol buildings and dispatch a postcard from each city, using postage stamps from a childhood collection. Each postcard would be mailed to the next state on his journey, where he would pick it up, continuing until he had gone full circle back to Indiana.

Simple enough. But Fazel, an American citizen of Iranian decent who lives in Milan, Italy, and who, by his own account, is “vaguely foreign looking,” was apparently photographed by a fellow air passenger while he slept during one of the legs of his trip. That passenger, who had heard Fazel’s description of his project, subsequently reported him “as suspicious—perhaps to the pilot or the Transportation Security Administration,” writes Shattuck.

Fazel believes that the report set off a chain reaction that has put him on “the list,” and he claims he has been repeatedly questioned and detained at many of the state capitols he visited. FBI authorities won’t verify if Fazel or anyone else is on a watch list, but a New York State Police investigator confirmed that he had “raised suspicion.”

He persevered on his trip until he ran out of money. Though he justifiably could be offended, Fazel says he isn’t.

In any case, his 17,345-mile, 78-day trip inspired an intriguing piece of art about America and what it means to an American. Images of his postcards and a four-minute video can be found with Shattuck’s New York Times story.

Photo of capitol building in Annapolis, Maryland by Michael Yessis.