Curated by Emilie Ahern and Sherri Littlefield
The Americans, by Robert Frank, was a highly influential book in post-war American photography. The photographs were notable for their distanced view of both high and low strata of American society and the book as a whole created a complicated portrait of the period, interpreted as skeptical of contemporary values and evocative of ubiquitous loneliness.
The curators of this exhibition, Emilie Ahern & Sherri Littlefield, have reflected on what it means to be “American.” Having multicultural backgrounds and being raised in the States has given them both moments of confusion and frustration, and has led them to wonder what this country has to do with personal identity. When forming this exhibition, the curators presented themselves, artists, editors, leaders and everyday-people with the question – “What is American culture today, and what does an American look like?”
They ask the viewer to consider the question with them starting through the eyes of the artists in this exhibition, leading to self reflection upon exiting the space.
Artists
Thomas Allen, Uriel Cidor, Ana Paula Cordeiro, Daniela Deeg + Cynthia Lollis, Ke Francis, Jon Feinstein, Kris Graves Project (featuring Nadiya Nacorda, Kenneth Wrye and MaryLynne Wrye, Alina van Ryzin, Kiliii Yüyan, Courtney Asztalos & Michael W. Hicks, Tess Roby, Jed Devine, Hayley Austin), Iris Grimm, Amos Kennedy, Paul Kessel, Shane Lavalette, Jamie Martinez, Greg Miller, Andrea Modica, Tammy Nguyen, Iviva Olenick, Eric Pickersgill, Purgatory Pie Press, Religious Leaders, E. Brady Robinson, Arlene Rush, Anastasia Samoylova, Ashok Sinha, Brian Taylor, Treat America Project featuring Paul Sisson, Bubblegum & Whiskey, Lisa Toto, Jym Davis, Ingrid V. Wells
