Tuesday, January 21, 2014

January Field

January Field (1.21.2014)



Textures at the Iowa Tribal Housing Authority

Textures at the Iowa Tribal Housing Authority (1.24.2014)











Sunday, January 19, 2014

Flyover Country








We live in what some people call "flyover country." That is, country they fly over to go to or from "important places" like LA or New York. We are therefore dismissed from "importance." Just like our ancestors were. But to us, -these- are the places that matter, and the "important" people and places do not exist for us, anymore than we exist for them, not really, although they are certainly in the media more than we and flyover country is. That was the inspiration for this series I am having fun playing with. What I am really getting at are two things.

1. These people, our ancestors, in portrait shots in studios, we see only as images and "types." But they were ever bit as real and individual as people as any of us are. So I want to put them in settings that are "regular" and recognizable to us.






2. Too many people have no sense of the depth and complexity of history. There is "now" and "history." I am shocked at how some people, especially younger ones, blend WWII with the Civil War, or how some think Columbus discovered America in the 1700s. To some, history is a big mishmash. So okay, in this series, "back then" is all blended together somehow, in a time of black and white photos…