America is Great Again!
These performance photo series are inspired by President Trump’s slogan “Let’s make America great again!” –propaganda photos of the American dream as experienced by an immigrant from Eastern Europe.
Common photo narrative for many economic immigrants (and not only) is to strike a pose in front of luxurious cars and houses, which are not necessarily their property. These photos resemble a dream that even if these cars and houses are not theirs, they can be one day. It is like magic: if people put their bodies next to the object of desire, this object becomes theirs at least for the time of taking the photograph. Similarly, posing “as your idol” –dressed and acting up as if you were rich–can make you “be” your idol for the moment of creating the photographic document.
In other words, achieving the American dream, as we know it as immigrants, which is: we will become rich and prosperous after working hard (or perhaps not working hard); can start with a posture, can be induced by the voodoo magic of photography, which “applies” to our bodies our desires and makes them come true.
