Mark Peterson: Political Theatre - (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

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.

Review Quotes

...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.--Aline Smithson "Lenscratch"

[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.-- "Bookforum"

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.-- "Seattle Book Review"

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.--Elizabeth Flock "PBS NewsHour"

Mark Peterson starkly captures the conscience of the American political drama.--Michelle Molloy "Time, Best Photobooks of 2016"

Peterson pulls back the curtain on such performances to show these politicians as they really are.-- "L'Oeil de la Photographie"

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.--Demie Kim "Artsy"

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.--Priscilla Frank "The Huffington Post"

Under his handheld flash, he shows candidates as human beings with their flaws and imperfections amplified by his careful lighting and framing.--Paul Moakley "Time Magazine"

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.-- "American Illustration/American Photography"