What is America?

I found the piece that consisted of many photos by Martin Hyers and William Mebane, titled American B. 1964-1972 (I think it was called...),  to be the most intersting. Well on the surface, I liked the varitey of colors that were used in all the pictures and how they came together to create a very visually interesting sight. I also like that there were two different people taking pictures of totally different things, but some how they managed to intertwine their work so well. It was almost like only one person created the work. It was strange too because looking at the pictures really made me think about being back home at my grandparents house or at my aunt's and uncle's place. It made me feel like a little kid looking through all their old trinkets and photos from back in the day. And that's when I realized that these photos were supposed to represent American culture at a certain time period. My grandparents had just began to start their families around that same time. They have been living in those same houses since they got married and had my parents. So looking at the pictures sort of gave me feel of being back home with my family.

At first, I was trying to put all of the photos together and figure out what the artist was trying to communicate to the audience. I started off small by pulling out themes and relating them back to the topic. There were various pictures of religious symbols, t.v.'s and radios, scences from public schools, sports trouphies and medals, office tools like stapplers and paper clips, family pictures, car parts, and police stations. Each one was different, but they all spoke to eachother and helped portray the topic more clearly. Some of the themes I got from these pictures were the emphasis placed on religion, technology, public education, sportsmanship, blue collar workers, family, automobiles, and the law/lawenforment.

The theme that was most prevelant to me was religion because I could connect it to so many other ideas. There were a lot of religious based photos like the bible, a manorah, church pughs, and crosses. This made me think about not only religion being something extremely dominate in our culture and especially at that time, but I also thought about the many different religions that are practiced in America. Then I tied some of these religions back to the many different races and ethnicities that make up our population like Judism, White Protestants, Hispanics who are often associated with Catholism, and the Black Baptist church which is what I grew up in. I think the artist were trying to say that America doesn't consist of just one race. There are many different races, religions, and ethnicities that are the heart of the American culture. There's a complexity in our culture which makes us so unique. But even with that being said, no matter how different we are from eachother we still are connected because we're all American.

 I think an important issue that stood out to me was the importance placed on commercialism and capitalism at the time. There was a picture of a Christmas tree and of a plastic Hannakah monorah. I think the photographers were not only trying to bring up religion, but commercialism/capitalism as well. As we all know Christmas and Hannakuh are huge holidays in America because so many people celebrate them. But at the time (and even today) there was way more signicance placed on the commercial aspects rather than the religion it self. By this I mean more people went out and bought Christmas and Hannakuh decorations and presents, but didn't actually celebrate the true meanings of the holidays. These celebrations are more of a show for people. Something for others to make money off of. And what is our country based off of? Capitalism. Everyone wants to make money. Basically, I think the artists were displaying the issue/idea of how important commercialism and capitalism are in our society.

Even with all the themes, ideas, issues, etc. brought up in these photos, I don't believe there is ever a way to sum up what America actually is. It's even impossible to do in one time period. Like I said before our culture is way more complex and difficult to describe. And I think that's what the artist were trying to say too.