[8] The Thesis

The patron saint of my project is not a single person, but is instead a thesis. That thesis being, America is distinct (a word I use with a neutral tone and without praise or asspersion) among similarly privileged and powerful nations. Its institutional idiosyncrasy, in realms social, political, governmental, religious, and economic ultimately shape culture and individual expressions of identity.

I am by no means the first person to think about this and treat it as a sort of patron saint. Artists like Dorothea Lange, Pete Souza, Myles Loftin, Carrie Mea Weems, and William Klein, I believe, were and are working under this thesis of American oddity.

Of these elders, Lange, someone whose career is so often compressed to one frame, is particularly sacrosanct. She photographed the impact that internment of American citizens of Japanese ancestry had during World War 2. This human rights violation passed through almost every governmental structure in the U.S. Executive order 9066 originated on the president's desk, States approved of and were complicit in its enforcement, and ultimately the practice was given the nations most supreme seal of approval when it was upheld by the high court. She also, arguably, would not have been able to start her career if it were not for funding by depression era programs such as the WPA and Federal Art Project. This tension makes an American sort of sense.