Getting the Band Back Together

Last Friday Mike Habermann and I were invited to speak at the Professional Practice class at MCAD that Paul Shambroom is teaching. When I was getting started in the photo industry I was fortunate to work as an assistant with both Mike and Paul. Both were generous mentors who really taught me about photography and in the process changed my life. To say I will be forever grateful would be an understatement.

For the last twenty years Paul's work has explored "America's power and culture through it's democratic, economice and security institutions". His new work is called Shrines and shows what happens to weapons of war when they are no longer useful.

I love the questions Paul presents about this new series:

"Why is a machine that was made for killing used as a memorial to the dead? Does it help a community mourn and heal from its losses, or is it intended to inspire new generations of warriors? Can it do both?"

"As these weapons age, their surfaces weather, and their technologies become obsolete, do they lose their associations with death and warfare?"

"With our nation once again at war, what can these relics of previous wars teach us about America’s (and humanity’s) proclivity for armed conflict?"

"My hope is that images of these weapons will lead us to consider the complexities of community response to war and remembrance in America."

Me too.

Thanks to Heather Kraft for snapping this photo of us.