Americana 2021: A Mid-Atlantic, East Coast Sampling

Americana 2021

A Mid-Atlantic East Coast Sampling

by Nancy Horisk-Sherr

There is no doubt about Americans’ penchant for commerce, convenience, and cars; our reverence for Constitutional rights; and our adoration of pets. We have a history of rebellion but hold dear the concepts of unity, law, and order. We live for celebrations and hail self-expression. We co-opt international cuisines but retool them for American tastes. We are white, black, and shades of brown. We salute the Red, White and Blue but wave lags of many other colors, too. This is our American culture in late 2021, through my lens.

Waf f les. Landenberg, Pennsy lvania.

Penny. Fair Hill, Maryland.

“Hot Dog.” New York City.

Frisbee. Fair Hill, Maryland.

^ “New Arrival.” Chenoa Manor, Avondale, Pennsylvania. < “Peek-A-Boo.” Radnor Hunt Club, Malvern, Pennsylvania.

“Return Trip.” Mount Cuba, Delaware.

“Seen Better Days.” Media, Pennsylvania.

“How do you like THEM apples?” Linvilla Orchards, Media, Pennsylvania.

“Bumpy Pumpkins.” Linvilla, Orchards.

“Bushel of Cider.” Linvilla Orchards, Media, Pennsylvania.

“Farm-to-City Convenience.” Wilmington, Delaware.

Hockessin, Delaware.

Long’s Park, Lancaster, Pennsylvania.

Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C.

“Itasha MR2.” Hockessin, Delaware.

“Flower Power.” Radnor Hunt Club, Malvern, Pennsylvania.

“Wings.” Concours d’Elegance, Malvern, Pennsylvania.

“Mobile Home.” Wilmington, Delaware.

“Old Timers.” Concours d’Elegance, Malvern, Pennsylvania.

“Bargains.” Wilmington, Delaware.

“Retail.” SoHo, Manhattan, NYC.

“Voyeur.”

Midtown Manhattan, NYC.

“Hustle I.” Wilmington, Delaware.

“Hustle II.” Washington, D.C.

“Fullillment in 3.2 Million Square Feet.” Wilmington, Delaware.

“Rides I.” North East, Maryland.

“Rides II.” Media, Pennsylvania.

“Convenient I.” North East, Maryland.

“Convenient II.” Wilmington, Delaware.

Wilmington, Delaware.

New York City.

Midtown Manhattan, NYC.

SoHo, Manhattan, NYC.

Avondale, Pennsylvania.

Wilmington, Delaware.

Sussex County, Delaware.

New Castle County, Delaware.

Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C.

“Stripes I.” Washington, D.C.

“Stripes II.” New York City.

We become not a melting pot but a beautiful mosaic. Different people, different beliefs, different yearnings, different dreams.

–Jimmy Carter, 39th President of the United States

As a photographer, I see the joy, the pain, the beauty, and the irony in situations. I look for the way that light evokes these qualities. Whether it is a fairly static object, such as a building, or a f leeting moment, such as a person or animal moving into the frame, I look for and select images that capture a quality that moves me to some deeper level of thought or emotion.

This book is intended to be a window on American life, which is evolving quickly through international cultural inf luences, political upheaval, shifting and diverging values, and challenges related to climate change. I intend to document American life as it evolves through the 2020s, beginning with Americana 2021. I see this book as only the irst chapter in a body of work that needs to proceed through at least a decade to tell a more complete story of transition or evolution, or revolution.

America in 2021 is no longer all baseball and apple pie; blue jeans and waving American f lags; Thanksgiving turkeys, college football, church on Sundays, and the family dog laying in front of a blazing ireplace. Norman Rockwell’s white Americana of the early 20th century has broadened and morphed.

Will we look back in ten years at this book and snicker at how “dated” people and things look? Will we focus on what was better at the beginning of the decade, or will we lament why we failed to change things when we had the opportunity?

American culture absorbs the traditions and cuisines brought here with the latest newcomers, adds it to the American stew, stirs in gently the politics and opinions of the moment, and produces a slightly different dish that is still uniquely American.

This is how I saw Americana, in my little corner of the world, in 2021.

Nancy Horisk-Sherr December 2021 Location: New York Metropolitan Museum of Art