Over the past two years New York–based Mark Peterson (born 1955) has photographed American presidential candidates as they lead rallies, meet with the public and plead for votes. He began documenting the race shortly before the government shutdown in 2013 at a Tea Party rally at the US Capitol, when politicians were railing against President Obama and the Affordable Care Act. Since then Peterson has followed the political spin as it approaches the November 2016 election, creating already-famous images of Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders, Sarah Palin, Chris Christie and others, cutting through the staging of their personalities and revealing the cold, naked ambition for power. This volume documents what has been widely described as the most polarized and bizarre presidential race in American history.
Mark Peterson's work has been published in The New York Times Magazine, New York, Fortune, Time, ESPN The Magazine and Geo, among many others. His numerous awards include a W. Eugene Smith support grant. Peterson’s book Acts of Charity was published in 2004 by Powerhouse Books.
Featured image is reproduced from 'Mark Peterson: Political Theatre.'
PRAISE AND REVIEWS
Time Magazine
Paul Moakley
Under his handheld flash, he shows candidates as human beings with their flaws and imperfections amplified by his careful lighting and framing.
Lenscratch
Aline Smithson
...this election is perfectly captured in black and white by photographer Mark Peterson, stripping the last two years down to its bare bones, showing the warts and weirdness of democracy gone awry.
The Huffington Post
Priscilla Frank
Through Peterson’s cinematic lens, politicians morph into vaudevillian performers, their constituents raving fans. The images deliberately break from the impartial and deferential style of photojournalists, opting instead to highlight intensity, absurdity and artifice wherever they appear.
Time, Best Photobooks of 2016
Michelle Molloy
Mark Peterson starkly captures the conscience of the American political drama.
American Illustration/American Photography
What Peterson did was to get into the thick of something appalling and create something appealing — a remarkable book perfectly in tune for a remarkable year in politics.
Artsy
Demie Kim
Peterson’s cinematic, close-up portraits of U.S. presidential candidates and their supporters are among the most dramatic images taken along this year’s campaign trail, finding their way to covers of TIME magazine and NY Mag, among others. Highly contrasted and garishly lit, his black-and-white images chronicled the insanity of the protests and rallies leading up to the election—and remain a powerful record in its wake.
L'Oeil de la Photographie
Peterson pulls back the curtain on such performances to show these politicians as they really are.
PBS NewsHour
Elizabeth Flock
Instead of capturing standard color photojournalism images, he started taking his photos in black and white, playing with flash and harsh light and emphasizing certain things about the images “to accent how staged most of these events are.” He emphasized that while he manipulates angles and flash, everything in the photos is real.
Bookforum
[Political theater] presents our nationwide absurdist freak-out as a stark melodrama...The ultrasharp, super-high-contrast, black-and-white images look at once like Weegee photographs, Twilight Zone stills, the grunge-scene snaps of Charles Peterson, and Robert Longo’s charcoal drawings.
Seattle Book Review
Everyone will find this book fascinating and interesting. With these photographs, [Mark Peterson] truly shows that the campaigns are really just theatre, that the candidates are just performing in front of an audience. Everyone is part of this theatre, even the audience. For people who love politics, this is the type of book for you. It is extremely fascinating; since these images are not stage-managed like they are on CNN, the photos give a look at how odd our system of electing a leader is.
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Mark Peterson's 2013 photograph of Governor Chris Christie at a New Jersey state function is reproduced from Political Theatre, Peterson's "defining portrait of an unsettling time," in the words of New Yorker Director of Photography Joanna Milter. Also praised by TIME, The Washington Post and the New York Times, among others, the book documents the current presidential race from 2013-2016, capturing in excruciating close-up the most polarized and bizarre presidential race in American history. Tonight at 7PM at the Strand, Peterson will appear in conversation with MSNBC Photography Director Amy Pereira. Book signing to follow, as part of STEIDLxSTRAND. continue to blog
FORMAT: Hbk, 9.5 x 11 in. / 144 pgs / 120 color & b&w. LIST PRICE: U.S. $40.00 LIST PRICE: CANADA $54 ISBN: 9783958291836 PUBLISHER: Steidl AVAILABLE: 1/24/2017 DISTRIBUTION: D.A.P. RETAILER DISC: TRADE PUBLISHING STATUS: Active AVAILABILITY: In stock TERRITORY: NA ONLY
Over the past two years New York–based Mark Peterson (born 1955) has photographed American presidential candidates as they lead rallies, meet with the public and plead for votes. He began documenting the race shortly before the government shutdown in 2013 at a Tea Party rally at the US Capitol, when politicians were railing against President Obama and the Affordable Care Act. Since then Peterson has followed the political spin as it approaches the November 2016 election, creating already-famous images of Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders, Sarah Palin, Chris Christie and others, cutting through the staging of their personalities and revealing the cold, naked ambition for power. This volume documents what has been widely described as the most polarized and bizarre presidential race in American history.
Mark Peterson's work has been published in The New York Times Magazine, New York, Fortune, Time, ESPN The Magazine and Geo, among many others. His numerous awards include a W. Eugene Smith support grant. Peterson’s book Acts of Charity was published in 2004 by Powerhouse Books.
