Angela Strassheim

Another great artist talk at the Phillips Collection last night featuring Angela Strassheim. She spoke about her beautiful but often unsettling photographs that began with a job as a forensic photographer. These images are taken from a recent show called Left Behind, photographs she made of her born-again Christian family and other remembrances from growing up in the Mid West.

One woman's question at the end of the talk struck me as a powerful example of how disconnected we have become from each other. The woman said she thought that the Rockwellian/Christian families that Strassheim depicts don't exist anymore so they are becoming less and less relevant. The photographer's response was that all the people who live in her parents' hometown are exactly like the people in these photographs. The questioning woman was super-coiffed and looked like she lunched with the ladies at the tennis club three times a week between her weekly manicures and Talbots shopping expeditions. For crying out loud, who does she think elected W to the presidency?? We believe these people are bigoted, prejudiced, and small-minded. In a twisted way, we are no less so. We live in an insulated, liberal world where we think we're so open-minded and accepting of different viewpoints and it turns out we're no better than the very people we scorn.

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