I recently saw two exhibitions that explore the experience of living in the US. They approach it from different points of view and through different media but I find them both worth seeing. As somebody who came to this country and established my life here, I often evaluate my experience and how it has changed over time.
The National Portrait Gallery (NGA) has a photography exhibition called American Cool. While I love photography, especially black-and-white, I find the stories that go with each photo even more interesting. This exhibition searches for what defines 'cool' (an idea that originated in the 1940s) through explorations of lives of people who have changed the society and culture. The word itself is charged with energy and my experience with it is internal, rather than linguistic. I cannot really even find a word or a collection of words in Czech that would reflect what this word signifies to me and who I perceive as 'cool.' Check the collection out (open through September 7, 2014) and see what moves you.
The National Portrait Gallery (NGA) has a photography exhibition called American Cool. While I love photography, especially black-and-white, I find the stories that go with each photo even more interesting. This exhibition searches for what defines 'cool' (an idea that originated in the 1940s) through explorations of lives of people who have changed the society and culture. The word itself is charged with energy and my experience with it is internal, rather than linguistic. I cannot really even find a word or a collection of words in Czech that would reflect what this word signifies to me and who I perceive as 'cool.' Check the collection out (open through September 7, 2014) and see what moves you.
Photo: Debbie Harry
While NGA displays photos, the Phillips Collection presents about two hundred paintings that portray life in this country at an exhibition called Made in the USA (open through August 31, 2014). Starting with late 19th century, the paintings, arranged in rooms thematically, take a look at the artists' experience. I am drawn to paintings that explore life in the city and how a city has changed. Other rooms have works that focus on country side, migration and immigration, culture ... What is the message that comes across? It is that a vast variety of voices, opinions, and experiences, has affected history and thus our current lives.
Painting: Walt Kuhn, Plumes, 1931