Shut Up Truth is a document of artist Michael Schmelling's friendship with James Holloway, a Texas native and union projectionist. The project began in 1996, when Schmelling met Holloway at a film screening while on assignment in Texas for the Associated Press. Shut Up Truth iis an unflincing and intimate portrait of a single, white middle-aged man. The photographs, taken in El Paso, constitute a documentary of contemporary American life. Michael Schmelling was born in Pittsburgh in 1973. He now lives in New York City and is a regular contributor to The New York Times Magazine, New York Magazine, The Fader, Details.