The Wavers 2009 – 2011

The people in these portraits are employed by Liberty Tax Service under the job title of “waver”, meaning they stand on street corners and wave and dance in an effort to entice the public into the tax office. I was first drawn to the wavers, as everyone is, by the unexpected sight of someone dancing on an urban street corner dressed as the Statue of Liberty. In photographing and talking with them I became interested in them as individuals and curious about their individual stories.

I found that all of those I photographed are thankful to be working. Most of their prior job experiences have been in the service industry, from customer service at Wal-Mart to fast food cook to motel housekeeping. Some are college students some are disabled; at least one is currently homeless. All of them are struggling to make ends meet, particularly in the current economic crisis.

To create these portraits I ask them to adopt a pose that portrays them as a person and not as an employee and I photographed them in the location they were working. I ask them to show me who they are as an individual and I titled the images with their names to signify that the image is a portrait of a person.

 

Flag a Day – June 2007 – June 2008

Flag A Day is a yearlong project about the American commercialization of patriotism. In the days immediately following 9/11, Americans displayed the flag in record numbers. Stores across the country could not keep up with the demand. Wal-Mart reported selling 450,000 American flags between September 11th and 13th, 2001 compared with 26,000 during the same period in 2000. The original intent to demonstrate solidarity exploded into an all out flag-a-thon, resulting in the appearance of the American flag on everything from the neighbor’s mailbox, to potatoes in the grocery store, to mud flaps on a 16 wheeler.

As a way of calling attention to, and processing the implications of, the patriotic bombardment, I began making one new photograph everyday, from Flag Day 2007 to Flag Day 2008, of a use of the American flag. These photographs are posted on the online archive www.flagaday.com with accompanying commentary on the blog www.flagaday.wordpress.com.

 

Nineteen Lincolns – 2004 – 2005

These men all belong to The Association of Lincoln Presenters. They are passionate about Lincoln and spend time studying, reading and performing for school groups, community celebrations, and senior citizen centers. At their annual convention I photographed the men singly and asked each to portray their idea of Lincoln for my camera.

In order to understand why they chose to portray Lincoln in this way I asked them to write a brief statement about their unusual occupation. While each one started for a different reason, sometimes on a whim, through reading and studying they all became completely immersed in the ideals of Abraham Lincoln. They revere Lincoln for his moral character; he embodies one of America’s most cherished tenets, that the common man, through sheer hard work and determination, can elevate his status in society.

 

Using History 1995-2004

Some years ago, I visited Stickney, South Dakota to photograph their centennial celebration. The week of festivities concluded with a pageant recounting the tale of Stickney’s one hundred years of existence. The whole town’s population, all 423 of them, arrived to claim a hillside seat on Vernon Peter’s farm, the prairie stretching before them as a stage.

The sun lingered close to the horizon as Lewis and Clark walked across the plain searching for the Pacific Ocean.  Behind them came women in sunbonnets and calico dresses beating pretend prairie fires with potato sacks, followed by missionaries dressed in black. During the intermission, the master of ceremonies told jokes and imitated Bing Crosby, while “Indians” dressed in homemade burlap costumes, their white faces painted to portray “otherness,” gathered in the background.

The second act brought war whoops and galloping horses to signal the demise of Custer, followed by prospectors, gold-sifting pans in hand, and cowboys driving cattle. The grand finale featured a favorite son, who had left Stickney to play in a lounge act in Fargo, returning to play “Great Balls of Fire,” on an upright piano. As the crowd went wild, clapping and cheering, a crop duster landed, carrying the surprise guest, a state senator.

Later that night in my hotel room, I wondered how these events expressed history. What would the Lakota Sioux who lived on a reservation outside of Stickney think of this pageant? What would their version of history say about the last one hundred years? I decided to photograph how Americans remember the past, in order to understand what is revealed by the events we choose to celebrate as history.

Initially I went to sites I studied in elementary school: Plymouth Rock, Jamestown, Gettysburg, Mount Vernon, the holy sites of American history. Everywhere I went, I found others exploring the past: retired couples in RVs, and families on vacation stopping at historical markers. I met Civil War buffs reenacting on ancient battlefields, and Vietnam veterans visiting memorials steeped in experience still fresh enough for tears. Everyone was trying to find a way to connect to the past.

I observed historic iconography everywhere and realized that its usage elicits a predictable response, valuable for selling merchandise, constructing identity, and invoking patriotism. I began to understand how the framing of the past evolves, reflecting the belief and ideals of the present.

These photographs are my quest to understand how I, and we, remember history. My intention with these images is to address how the culture and morality of today are reflected in what we commemorate about the past.

Beside the Apalachee

This is a reenactment. The people in these photographs have not really been killed. These men and women are recreating a horrific act of mob violence that took place along the Apalachee River near Monroe, Georgia.

What is known for sure is that in the early evening of July 25, 1946 four African Americans, two men and two women, were riding in a car driven by a white farmer when a mob of white men surrounded the car pulling the passengers out, dragging them down by the river and then firing over 60 bullets before leaving them dead beside the river. No one was ever charged with a crime.