HUNTER/GATHERER
For the past several years I have traveled throughout the United States photographing found objects and scenes at antique malls and shops, collectibles fairs, and flea markets. This ongoing long-term project encompasses a broad range of themes and concerns including uber-materialism, childhood, religion, politics, war, gender roles, and racial stereotypes. My subject matter is quite varied – mannequins, dolls, posters, photographs, figurines, household items, taxidermy, tchotchkes, and much more. The intent is to discover what this ubiquitous slice of our cultural landscape can tell us about our collective past and what it might reveal about our present-day culture, ourselves, and the American persona writ large.
Hunter/Gatherer is grouped into 5 galleries: Personal Effects, Enigmatic Narratives, The (Fe)Male Gaze, Dollface, and US/them. WARNING: US/them contains graphic images of racist memorabilia that some viewers might find disturbing.
PERSONAL EFFECTS
For most of us living in the First World, the search for food has evolved over the ages to a quest for things – we have become hunter-gatherers of material goods: houses and cars, TVs and iPhones, curios and trinkets, paintings and photographs. We seek, we find, we acquire. Possessing the biggest, the best, the most, has come to define the American Dream. In this series of photographs I employ information overload and complex structures to shine a light on our ultra-consumerism. Though at first they might appear to be completely haphazard, the photographs are precisely composed and often include visual motifs - repeating forms, lines, colors and objects - allowing the images to resonate with pattern and rhythm.
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