Time-Based Society; Time-Based People

Within the context of human social movements, the passage of time more closely resembles a pendulum than it does a straight line. Progressive outbreaks of social thought are met by resistance -- a backlash, some might say -- only to emerge again with heightened fervor in subsequent generations. People reject a way of life as antiquated, but then beatify and resurrect it through nostalgia and revivalism, respectively.

This trend seems most significant in America; our citizens are united by common thoughts and ideals, rather than an immemorial sense of national identity. Accordingly, as an infant nation in a world of ancients, we are still laboring to define ourselves: who we are, where we are going.

All things are better with humor. In Making a Cake...and Friends, I hoped to turn a playful eye toward both the aura of domestic bliss and the darker, repressive and conformist undertones of the 1940s and 50s. I am always drawn to this era of American history -- for its wholesome aesthetic, values, and perceived simplicity -- but still very grateful for the progress we have made as a nation since that time.

This work and future works, I suspect, will center around a hope that we can combine many of the positive attributes of earlier generations (their work ethic, honesty, loyalty and pride) with the positive attributes of our current generation (open-mindedness, tolerance, and activism). This could only ever be achieved, I'd suggest, by careful collective and personal introspection.

In short, let's not defenestrate the baby with the bathwater. We can be as good as our predecessors, and much better than our predecessors at the same time.

Finally, looping in the portrait series of my brother, which will remain untitled, I'd just briefly observe that the "backlash" trend also plays itself out through the course of our own personal development. Oscillating from one extreme to another -- through childhood, adolescence, and adulthood -- we're all following the same, swaying trajectory as our young nation. Yet, it seems, we retain one steady (if complex) identity throughout.