Exploring objects and events that exist at the periphery of war reveals a less easily defined national identity and foreign policy. Looking closely at what the average American watches, reads, eats, buys, and “likes” exposes how patriotism materializes in everyday life, even on the sides of beer cans at NFL games. I am interested in how patriotism is commodified, consumed, and represented across advertising, media, culture, and religion, and how these forces often overlap in video games, television, and sporting events.
As a photographer, I am both observer and maker. My work uses the medium of photography to document, archive, catalog, enlarge, flatten, and scrutinize these objects with heightened descriptive detail. Photography’s specificity allows me to draw from the visual language of the press and advertising industries, oscillating between art as fiction and documentary as fact while contributing to the expanding visual vocabulary of contemporary military iconography.
