MEN IN SUITS: A DAY ON THE HILL

Photomontage

Men in Suits: A Day on the Hill is an investigation through snapshots, furtively captured during an outing on Capitol Hill. These enlarged images form the basis for a ‘Mirrors for Princes’ sequence of composite, mixed-media panels that track and collapse power structures in Washington DC, exposing failures of will that bring on tragic compromise.

The male suit is a successful adaptation that has survived centuries of fine-tuning and minor variations with no fundamental breakdown of its form and function.

By design it expresses an unassailable authority while concealing myriad behaviors. When the fabric folds at the joints the suit can suggest a predatory strike, gathering energy for a spring to action, then it reclaims its perfect columnar structure when the wearer stands. There are bird-like qualities in a moving suit – a raucous flapping of leg-folds against a wind, a tail feather turned up, an alternation of openings and closings. When the folds collapse in the course of things it can go limp and soft. These dark grey glyphs are so known to us they go unnoticed, but the actions and inactions they enclose reverberate.