Doing Americana: Photography, Mythology, and the American Dream
Doing Americana: Photography, Mythology, and the American Dream peels back the layers of the seemingly natural myth of the American “good life.” Inviting viewers to look closer at how photography has helped shape American ideals of nationhood, domesticity, labor, and freedom, this exhibition is anchored by images from the University of Louisville Archive’s Standard Oil (New Jersey) collection (SONJ). Part of a thirteen-year documentary project led by Roy Stryker, the former head of the Farm Security Administration’s (FSA) Information Division, these images were created to boost SONJ’s public image. Stryker oversaw hundreds of photographers sent to oil towns around the globe to improve popular opinion and show how vital the oil industry was to the very foundation of America. These images document every possible aspect of the American “good life” in oil towns.
Here, the SONJ images are paired with contemporary interventions from the Archive’s Fine Print collection and the Bridwell art library’s Artist Books collections to present direct examples of photographic mythmaking. In his book Mythologies, Roland Barthes explains that myths are not simply falsehoods, but rather social constructions meant to reenforce and make cultural ideologies appear natural. SONJ photographers captured moments that best exemplified the goals and touchstones of the mythic American Dream.
The exhibition’s sections– Justice, Common Defense, Blessings of Liberty, General Welfare, and Domestic Tranquility– take their names from the Preamble to the U.S. Constitution. In order to begin peeling back the layers of this myth, to unveil the cracks and empty promises of a dream few Americans are able to fully achieve, the coherence of the American Dream presented in these photos must be examined.
The American Dream is heavily nuanced, and this exhibition does not aim to pose an anecdote to a history of ongoing questions. Instead, Doing Americana offers the opportunity to reconsider how our culture is constructed through images like those found in the SONJ collection.
Schneider Hall Galleries University of Louisville
Gallery Hours MondayFriday 9:30-4:30