Greta Pratt documents historical reenactments that inform America's identity

Date
16 November 2017

“Photography allows you the guilty pleasure of staring at others,” says Virginia-based photographer Greta Pratt, “even though we know it is not the ‘truth’, it provides insight into the lives of others and that is a topic that is forever intriguing to me.” Greta’s love for the medium stems from a childhood spent in her parent’s library, which contained a number of photography books: “Diane Arbus and Jerome Liebling were my favourites, I used to look at them for hours,” she tells us.

Years later and these early influences can be seen throughout Greta’s practice. Her fascination with humanity and its strange behaviours is clear in both what she chooses to chronicle and how she does it. Tending to work on long-term projects, the photographer draws inspiration from what she reads in the newspapers. “I generally take trips and do extensive planning about the route,” she says, adding that, “when I arrive I allow myself to interact with the people and the landscape. I need to wander, concentrate and respond to what I see.”

Much of her work is concerned with issues of national identity and American myth which has manifested in a series of projects documenting events and the people who recreate the country’s collective past. “I’m interested in how a nation’s history is framed and how that structure becomes a guide for cultural identity,” she tells us.

In her 2005 series, Using History, Greta photographs the host of ways that America remembers its history. She visited sites such as Gettysburg, Mount Vernon and Plymouth Rock (among many others) to capture the families, tourists and veterans all searching for a way to connect with the past. “I observed historic iconography everywhere and realised that its usage elicits a predictable response, valuable for selling merchandise, constructing identity, and invoking patriotism. I began to understand how the framing of the past evolves, reflecting the belief and ideals of the present,” she explains on her website.

Today, this mission to understand how modern-day culture reflects how, and what, we remember is still prevalent in Greta’s work: “Ever since I realised the power of controlling the dialogue of history I have been driven to examine it and the myriad ways it surfaces,” she explains. In her current, and ongoing, series A Cloud of Dust Greta has spent the last three years recording the American West to examine its “mythology and elevation of hyper-masculinity”. The project explores how “obvious fabrications can be thought of as factual and influence how a nation understands itself,” says Greta. This notion feels altogether relevant in today’s climate where gender politics is increasingly polarising, particularly in the United States.

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Greta Pratt: Using History

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Greta Pratt: Using History

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Greta Pratt: Using History

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Greta Pratt: Using History

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Greta Pratt: Using History

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Greta Pratt: Using History

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Greta Pratt: A Cloud of Dust

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Greta Pratt: A Cloud of Dust

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Greta Pratt: A Cloud of Dust

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Greta Pratt: A Cloud of Dust

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About the Author

Ruby Boddington

Ruby joined the It’s Nice That team as an editorial assistant in September 2017 after graduating from the Graphic Communication Design course at Central Saint Martins. In April 2018, she became a staff writer and in August 2019, she was made associate editor.

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