Liz Rywelski's American Portraits

image courtesy of space 1026 and the Tehran Biennial
image courtesy of space 1026 and the Tehran Biennial




In these portraits, artist, Liz Rywelski , visits Kmart stores, creates a temporary identity and then asks for the assistance of the store’s employees in having her portrait taken.

On one trip she is a recent college graduate, hoping to take pictures to send to her family. On another trip, she is the fiance of a soldier stationed in Iraq, and wants to send her beau a portrait. She introduces herself to some of the employees as a customer in need of assistance, creative assistance, and then allows herself to become a canvas for their creativity and their sense of style. She asks them to choose clothes for her, makeup, accessories, and then in the in-store photo studio, staffed by an untrained photographer, she allows them to select the best backdrop, props and poses.

Rywelskis project is based on her role as facilitator as opposed to singular creator. However, instead of collaborating with a singular artist-genius, Rywelski collaborates with the employees of Kmart, working individuals whose low-wage employment at a large retailer has been expurgated of most substantive creativity. She allows these employees to transform their role as wage-laborers into creators – working with them in the store, they become Rywelski’s master printers.

text courtesy of Space 1026