Depicting the American way of life

Photographs by Chris Jordan

These are some very remarkable images. See them on the artist’s web site.

There is an interview with the artist by Jorg Colberg in the March/April 2007 issue of Orion Magazine.

Jörg Colberg: Your work strikes me as political, since it addresses our culture of consumerism. I imagine that you must have run into some resistance when presenting it. Have people complained?

Chris Jordan: I am frequently surprised by how little negative feedback I get for my criticism of the American way of life. Maybe it is because we all know it is true: that we are living insane lives governed by materialism and greed. Or maybe the lack of resistance is a reflection of the depth of our denial. When I exhibit my work and talk about our rampant consumerism, no one ever seems to think I am talking about them.

Talking to Americans about consumerism is like talking to someone with an alcohol problem. Our culture is in deep denial about what we are doing to our planet, to the people of other nations, and the people of the future. And maybe the biggest tragedy of all is that we are in denial about how our consumer lifestyle is sapping our own spirits. We are slowly killing ourselves, and we all feel it. We know we are somehow getting screwed, that all this stuff isn’t really satisfying, that we have lost something sacred that is related to the very core of our selves. But still we don’t act. Instead we get in our BMWs and drive to our skyscrapers and shuffle our papers for all of the best hours of the best days of the best years of our lives so we can afford our new kitchen remodel.

It is a tragedy beyond belief, happening right here in our own country, under our own noses, to our own selves. I think Americans in the first decade of the twenty-first century will be looked back upon as some of the most spiritually lost people in the history of humankind.

Read the full interview here.

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