MY AMERICA [Hardcover]

Claudia Christen (Author), Christopher Morris (Photographer)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 21, 2008

Over the past 20 years Christopher Morris has concentrated the greater part of his work on war correspondence, documenting more than 18 foreign conflicts, including the U.S. invasion of Panama, the Persian Gulf War, the drug war in Columbia, and the wars in Afghanistan, Chechnya and Yugoslavia. For the last four years he has been home, photographing the relative calm of the domestic side of George W. Bush's presidency, on assignment for Time. Morris describes this collection of his Bush-era work as his personal journey into a Republican America. "Hopefully," Morris says, "you will see what I saw and feel what I felt--a nation that has wrapped its eyes so tightly in red, white and blue that it has gone blind. This is My America." Morris, a founding member of the photojournalist agency VII, based in Paris, has received numerous awards for his work, including the Robert Capa Gold Medal, several World Press Photo awards, and the Infinity Photojournalist award from the International Center of Photography. This is his first monograph.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 180 pages
• Publisher: Steidl (November 21, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 3865212018
• ISBN-13: 978-3865212016
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 8.2 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,411,401 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Master Focuses On A President, January 7, 2007

By 

Photo Politico "Chip" (Washington, DC United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: MY AMERICA (Hardcover)

Whether it is due to the threat of terrorism or the president's inability to turn a clever phrase, George W. Bush has been a difficult person to truly capture in photographs. Sure, there are the many images of him that lampoon his expressions or make him appear awkward in public. But because his press office and/or handlers offer little or no opportunities for the news media to see him in a candid - or "non-canned" - moment, photojournalists are left grasping at straws and attempting to glean what they can while he enters and exits one photo opportunity after another. Not so with Christopher Morris' book "My America."

Instead of aiming the camera at the President while he waxes on about terror, taxes and family values (after all, a man at a podium is just a man at a podium), Morris looks away from the preacher and into the eyes of the congregation. Here, reflected in their awestruck faces, you can really see what kind of affect Bush has on this audience. Soldiers, cheerleaders, young women in uniform and boys in braces, all appear hypnotized by the presence of the world leader just off camera. In Morris' America, the beautiful landscape (be it a wheat field or a parking garage) is void of any humans and dotted only with the occasional black, monolithic Secret Service agent. Here life is staged, cut-out, removed from reality.

And because the President believes in God, and God is said to live in the details, Morris leaves none of them untouched. In the spirit of full disclosure, I sometimes work at the White House and cover the president. So, I've seen these details, too. But Morris frames them and captures them in a way that takes my breath away: the ice blue eyes, the ruby red lips, the diamond necklaces, the masking tape that says "THE PRESIDENT." And the ever-present American flag, hoisted, bannered, pinned and planted in every available place so as to raise it to a near false-idol status.

So, despite the President's best efforts, something very honest about him and the personality of his administration has crept into every photograph in this book. Tucked into the corner of each frame or sitting blurred in the background is a sense of loss and detachment. In Christopher Morris' America, people don't touch, or hug or cry or laugh. They just stand frozen in anticipation of the next word from the great leader.

Photographically speaking, the book is beautifully printed. The tones are muted so to extend the effect of uniformity and sincerity. Also, its size (about 8x9 inches) is not overwhelming like so many other books published by photographers of Morris' caliber. If you enjoy the work of Alec Soth, Alex Webb, Jonas Bendiksen, Martin Parr and Morris' colleagues at the VII Photo Agency, then this book is a must.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Out of many one, January 12, 2008

By 

K.Kenig (Poland) - See all my reviews

This review is from: MY AMERICA (Hardcover)

Pictures in "My America", though having qualities of many different genres and styles (political photojournalism, new topographics and fashion photography) are not manneristic, in a sense that they can't be tied to or inscribed to neither of the aesthetics. Those perfectly studied shots are simple yet discerning. People's faces are partially cropped out to focus our attention on particularities of their outlook: blood red lipstick of a young republican supporter open up in an expression of a blissful awe; a picture of a marine in his camouflage printed uniform shows only his lips pressed together tight in a grimace of pride; neatly tailored suit of the President with hands at his side and some fingers typically lifted up as if by some invisible strings. We see glassy eyes, full of hope and admiration, staring and mesmerized. We see flags, limousines, deserted areas, landscapes, car parks with men in black suits standing, waiting, watching, controlling. "My America's" cinematic narrative is disturbing. The opening photo shows a close up of a tapestry of the Presidential Seal: an eagle clutching in its beak "E Pluribus Unum" motto. Stars, rays, brown wings of the eagle, blue background knit with yarn feel almost palpable. As well as golden grasses in the field in Maine that fill up the second spread. A man in an elegant black suit stands amidst of it. His posture is unnaturally stiff, like a mannequin in a tailor's shop. We see golden buttons on his cuff and a lock of clear coiled tube on his neck. Though "My America" revolves around the President he can hardly be noticed. Fragments of his figure appear four times in the whole story, and the only time one can see his face is in a dark portrait where his calm profile shot against spotlights gives an impression of a pianist giving a concert. Almost unrecognizable is his tiny figure in an image shot from above where a crowd is circled around the Presidential Seal. He stands in the middle of it with his hands on a lectern. There is a huge distance between the tribe and the orator. An empty ring of a fiery red carpet separates the people from the podium guarded by figures in black suits - a closing brace and a metaphor for the whole book.

1 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Definitely not MY America, May 13, 2007

By 

Fareed R. Riyaz (Manassas, Virginia, United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: MY AMERICA (Hardcover)

One of the problems with buying photo books online is that you have no idea of how you feel about the photos ... because you CAN'T SEE THE PICTURES.

On an intial run through this book, I was initially very drawn to the pictures. They really are very beautiful. But then I noticed something ... when you get about halfway through the book, you start noticing that everyone in the book looks the same. Then, you try to figure out what it is. You read some more of the book ... and you realize that everyone in the book is WHITE. The only people who might be considered to not be white are a few janitors somewhere in the middle of the book.

So, I'm not really sure what this author is trying to say ... apparently his America only consists of white people and a few colored janitors? To me, that's either seriously closed-minded, or something more insidious.