Violent Material — Steven Brahms

I created eight photographs featuring different men from my neighborhood. I provided each man with a handgun and asked them to strike an action pose.

In our contemporary state of affairs, every action becomes a performance. We are inundated with an endless repetition of imagery, finding ourselves re-watching what we have already seen, whether it's another episode of CSI or the continuous 24-hour news cycle of global conflicts. We are constantly viewing the same image: a person with a gun. The images of incidents we witness often fail to reveal the true nature of what is happening. Each image carries multiple truths, as actions are interpreted differently. The telling and retelling of events result in not just the depiction of the action itself but an array of reductions and emphases.

By contributing to this visual repetition, 'Violent Material' explores how our common imagery is both generated and undermined through the processes of creation and interpretation. Thus, it raises questions about the significant role that photography plays in our (lack of) understanding of the world we inhabit.