For years, photographer Greta Pratt considered herself a New Yorker. As a Pulitzer-nominated documentary photographer whose works hang in museums including the Smithsonian and the National Museum of American Art, she was thoroughly enmeshed in the East Coast art world. And then she went to a hog-showing competition in Nebraska. “I looked around me and realized that I looked just like everyone else there,” she said. “I was clearly a Midwesterner. No one on the East Coast truly understands what that means.”
Pratt grew up in Minneapolis and, along with her husband, Mark Peterson, shot photographs for City Pages and the United Press International during the early eighties. After moving to New York in 1986, she returned for extended trips across the Midwest, haunting small-town festivals and county fairs for her first photo book, In Search of the Corn Queen. Pratt was so dazzled by the experience that two more book projects were born, Using History, and her latest, Nineteen Lincolns. Both explore the cultural icons–flags, cowboys, statues of livestock–that make life in America unique (and sometimes bizarre). “I became interested in how history, real or otherwise, becomes part of group identity,” Pratt said.
Group identity is tough to come by on a deserted island, but we think Pratt will do quite well when she gets stranded on The Rake’s favorite pile of sand. She’s got that Midwestern-practicality thing going for her, after all. Looking at this more as a jolly solo camping trip than an imposed exile, here’s what she’d bring:
1. A hearty supply of s’mores fixings. And, of course, matches to light the fire that will melt the marshmallows.
2. A case of oak-y, buttery, full-bodied Chardonnay. It’ll go well with fish.
3. The collected works of Jean Baudrillard. Contemplating simulacra and simulation should keep me busy for a while.
4. My new digital camera and solar-powered laptop with satellite Internet connection, so I can email photos of my new digs and blog my thoughts about simulation.
5. The lyrics for “Kumbaya”… in case I forget the last verse.
Greta Pratt presents a slide show discussion about her work at the Minnesota Center for Photography on March 14, in conjunction with her exhibition, Using History, at Gallery 13, on view March 14 – April 7. Pratt will sign books at a reception at the gallery on March 18, 6:30-10:00 p.m. 302 13th Ave. N.E., Minneapolis; 651-592-5503
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