America's Idea of a Good Time

Over the past two years, in a personal examination of America's resolutepursuance of the happiness to which it feels constitutionally entitled, KateSchermerhorn has photographed nearly a hundred parades and pageants acrossthe breadth of the continental USA. Her camera however never quite getsaround to recording glory of the spectacle, choosing instead to reach beyondthe razzmatazz and settle into the dust of the surrounding minutiae whichinform the structure of the whole. Intangibles such as concentration form afundamental part of the events: in Pasadena for example we find a perfectlymade up, high heeled, suspender and stocking clad gentleman applying thefinal adjustments to his face paint before taking part in a parade. Laceseems significant to a Hollywood Halloween party while a poodle in a petpouch across its owner's chest seems glued to a Washington tricycle race.Taking the whole thing seriously is very much an issue here: there is acommitment in the participants which is appreciated by the spectators. InPhoenix Arizona for example spectators have brought living room furnitureout into their driveway and comfortably settled in to watch a parade: anotion of communal spirit, both national and local flows throughout thebook. The High School Band rehearses in the back yard, while in Beaux BridgeLouisiana a uniformly striped couple step seriously out for the annualcrawfish festival. The book opens with an image of Mount Rushmore, avoidingthe splendour and simply allowing the head of George Washington to break thebottom of the frame. Whether he is to be viewed as sinking; or perhapsresurfacing to once more regard the nation he fathered is a decision left tothe viewer. Quietly, behind it's humorous, light hearted, and gentlysuperficial veil, America's Idea of a Good Time asks some very subtlequestions. And as her Amish farmer rollerblades filmicly off into the sunsetI'm left with the conviction that Kate Schermerhorn's is a journey that'sonly just begun. I look forward to her next book

Kate Schermerhorn has given us an affectionate look at Americans at play, in all their nutty glory. She highlights her subjects' quirkiness, to be sure, but never harshly. Her engaging, clever photographs convey a deliciously droll take on what it means to have fun - and what it looks like to watch others having it -- in today's America.