ARTIST'S STATEMENT
Vote
What does voting mean? What does it look like? Detailed in the United States
Constitution, it is at the foundation of our American political system. In my ongoing
series Vote, I question the ideas and ideals of America as it is manifest in this essential
political process where democracy is actually carried out by the average citizen. My
project explores the mundane realities of American democracy in the unique environment
of the polling place.
Many people perceive voting on Election Day as our civic duty, an honorable,
solemn act at the heart of American politics and identity. We conjure up images of grand
civic buildings: city halls, firehouses, and schools. In reality, sometimes the locations
where votes are cast are anything but noble. My photographs explore the kaleidoscopic
quirkiness of voting, the confluence of popular culture and our political process and the
odd juxtaposition of this mundane act. The unexpected places where voting occurs speaks
to how democracy actually operates, perhaps undermining the solemnity of Election Day
and questions notions about the sanctity of the democratic process.
There is an incongruity to the photographs. The functionality of the spaces is at
odds with the functionality of the voting booth as the machines seem to usurp the
environment. As if transported from another world, the machines remind us of the often
haphazard way in which elections are conducted, the brevity of Election Day standing at
odds with the permanence of its surroundings.
Investigating these residences and private businesses highlights the tension of
public government encroaching into private life and vice-versa: the rights and
responsibilities of collective citizenship are often in conflict with the wants and desires of
an individual capitalist consumer. What do these places say about our country? In this
overlap of politics and capitalism, which is more important? Which takes precedence? Do
we serve as citizen or consumer? How can we concurrently fulfill the role of public
citizen in a democracy and the role of private consumer in a free market society?