By Maddie Orton
Arts Correspondent
Assistant Curator at the International Center for Photography Claartje van Dijk is originally from Holland. So when she and a colleague embarked on curating their “Winning the White House” exhibit — now on display at Mana Contemporary — she could see how personality-focused our campaign process is by comparison.
“It’s very different to me,” said van Dijk. “It’s much more personal. It’s not necessarily about governing or political issues, but it’s also very much about the person themselves.”
That preoccupation with image is the focus of the show, which is subtitled “From Press Prints to Selfies” and covers as much and more.
“On the one hand how much people try to kind of show the voter,” said van Dijk. People like reporters and watch dogs. “And on the other hand, the presidential campaign and their team, who are trying to create this image to really show [the people] who they are, and why they would be the most incredible president of this country.”
M. Scott Brauer falls into the first category. He’s a photojournalist whose images have been included in the New York Times and The Wall Street Journal. He’s spent the last year and a half on the campaign trail, and two of his photos are featured in the exhibit.
“When I take pictures, I’m not setting out to make a candidate look bad or to portray them in a negative way,” explained Bauer. “My goal is to look behind the images that they’re presenting of themselves, to dig a little bit deeper than the patriotic flags behind them and the heroic image that they’re trying to present.”
And photos like his can say a lot.
“There’s one photo that was a big influence for me. It was taken by a Flint Journal photographer of Adlai Stevenson. He had been campaigning so hard, and walking so much, that he had worn a hole near the bottom of his shoe,” said Bauer. “It humanizes the people — the politicians — and it shows just everything that goes into a campaign. It’s a very simple photo.”
Of course, some photos are not so simple. Take, for example, the doctored image of a young John Kerry seemingly with Jane Fonda at an anti-war rally that appeared during the 2004 election, or any number of artfully-crafted shots of candidate Nixon following his 1960 loss to Kennedy. And then there’s the more recent matter of social media.
“For the presidential candidates, it’s really important to have taken selfies with their voters,” said van Dijk. “I mean it was called — and maybe this is what it is — it’s like the ‘selfie election’.”
And if a candidate’s image is impactful enough, it can take on a life all its own.
In addition to numerous photographs and posters, the exhibit also features a nearly hour and a half-long video of 60 years worth of campaign ads. “Winning the White House” can be seen by appointment at Mana Contemporary through January.