Aspiring photographers often envision themselves bounding across the hills of Africa in a rugged jeep as they take breathtaking photos of a pride of lions, or standing inches away from Hollywood stars as they snap away on the red carpet…

San Antonio-based photographer Mark Menjivar, on the other hand, focuses his lens on the inside of other people’s refrigerators. His piece, entitled “You Are What You Eat” shows the contents of twenty different American’s refrigerators. At first glance, this may sound like somewhat of a dull subject to focus on, but Menjivar reveals the intrigue that creeps just below the surface: “A refrigerator is both a private and a shared space. One person likened the question, ‘May I photograph the interior of your fridge?’ to asking someone to pose nude for the camera. Each fridge is photographed ‘as is,’ nothing added, nothing taken away.’” (This may sound like the naïve ranting of a sheltered, small-town peasant but I would venture to say that the majority of Americans would still feel more comfortable allowing their refrigerator to be photographed than taking part in a nude photo shoot.)

Menjivar goes on to say that, “These are portraits of the rich and poor. Vegetarians, Republicans, members of the N.R.A., those left out, the under appreciated, former soldiers in Hitler’s SS, and so much more. We never know the full story of one’s life.” Menjivar’s photographs provide us with a fascinating cross-section of everyday life in modern America, a term that’s definition varies wildly in a country that sprawls out across thousands of miles and is made up of people from every corner of the globe.

You can view this surprisingly fascinating project in its entirety on the artist’s website, www.markmenjivar.com. Each photograph features a small caption that says where the refrigerator’s owner is from, what their occupation is, and a rough description of their income. There are also sometimes other interesting insights into the lives of the fridge’s owners, like “Sleeps with a loaded .45 pistol on the nightstand, or used to weight 390 pounds earlier this year,” or even “Feels more comfortable among flora and fauna of his era than people.” And the interesting part is, somehow, that this is all you will ever find out about this individual. You will never see them, or learn of their name, but you will know that they love skim milk and that their youngest son works on a lobster boat in Alaska. Some moments are revealingly sad, like the stark image of a white fridge, completely empty save for a jar of some sort of spread and a paltry looking black plastic bag. Scrolling down reveals that this is the refrigerator of someone in San Antonio, Texas who lives on a fixed income of $432 a month.

Between the half-used ketchup bottles and 12-packs of beer, what Menjivar gives us is a sometimes amusing, sometimes sobering, but always strangely fascinating inside look at life in America in 2009.