Eliot Dudik

Still Lives and Broken Land

November 4 - December 30, 2016

Still Lives

Born of ill-informed misconceptions about the motives behind reenactments of the American Civil War during the 150th anniversary, my interest developed in the mentality of the weekend actors who caravan a web of routes to re-perform the actions of war on surrogate battlefields. My initial contact with a re-enactor involved driving through woods on a golf cart, while the driver wept and recounted the stories of all his ancestors killed or wounded in conflicts dating to the Civil War. I have since learned that the motivations compelling re-enactors are incalculably complex, but generally address themselves to the preservation of history and appropriate honor for the fallen.

My deeper curiosity and exploration began after hearing a re-enactor say "I don't die anymore." I learned that he invoked this privilege on the strength of his years of service in the community. But the idea of controlling one's death, choosing when and where to perform and re-perform one's demise, says something powerful about our relation to historical representation—about our need for it, and about its conditions and limitations. These portraits provide a sense of the diversity of actors existing in this community, many of whom devote their lives to this performance, and strive to immortalize them in a fabricated state of tranquility as they hover above the ground they fight for.

Broken Land

The idea of history repeating itself generally means that recognizing mistakes of the past prevents their recurrence. Current political and cultural polarization in the United States seems to have blinded us to the effects of our terrible historical schisms—divisions that led to the horrific and devastating events of the American Civil War and which, having not been recognized and resolved, seem determined to repeat themselves. The current political divide in this country is not dissimilar to that of mid-nineteenth-century America. And once again, political leaders today, as before, appear incapable of lasting and effective resolutions.

Perspectives on the Civil War and contemporary culture are many and are deeply engrained in our heritage. Prying open and examining viewpoints objectively is exceedingly difficult, but it is nevertheless an essential responsibility for all citizens if we are to recover any possibility of cultural and political cohesion. My goals are to create landscapes that come alive with the acts of war, and cause, at least, contemplation of the nature of being American, to allow understanding, communication, and cooperation with fellow citizens. These photographs are an attempt to preserve American history, not to relish it, but recognize its cyclical nature and to derail that seemingly inevitable tendency for repetition.

ABOUT THE ARTIST: Eliot Dudik is a photographic artist, educator, and bookmaker exploring the connection between culture, history, and politics. His first monograph, ROAD ENDS IN WATER, was published in 2010. In 2012, Dudik was named one of PDN’s 30 New and Emerging Photographers to Watch and one of Oxford American Magazine’s 100 New Superstars of Southern Art. He was awarded the PhotoNOLA Review Prize in 2014 for his Broken Land and Still Lives portfolio, resulting in a book publication and solo exhibition. Broken Land was most recently published as a feature in the July/August 2015 issue of Smithsonian Magazine. FLASH FORWARD 2015 chose the series for publication and exhibition in Toronto and Boston.

His photographs have been installed in group and solo exhibitions across the United States and Canada including Dishman Art Museum (TX), Morris Museum of Art (GA), Masur Museum of Art (LA), Muscarelle Museum of Art (VA), Cassilhaus (NC), Annenberg Space for Photography (CA), Columbia Museum of Art (SC), Southeast Museum of Photography (FL), Welch Gallery at Georgia State University (GA), Rebecca Randall Bryan Gallery at Coastal Carolina University (SC), Staniar Gallery at Washington and Lee University (VA), New Orleans Photo Alliance (LA), Carte Blanche Gallery (CA), Davis Gallery at the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville (FL), Carlson Gallery at the University of La Verne (CA), and the Division Gallery in Toronto, Canada, for examples. Upcoming solo exhibitions also include the Griffin Museum of Photography (MA) and the Center for Fine Art Photography (CO).

Eliot taught photography at the University of South Carolina from 2011 to 2014 before founding the photography program within the Department of Art and Art History at the College of William & Mary where he is currently teaching and directing the Andrews Gallery at the college. https://www.eliotdudik.com/