It is the age of Jazz.
Evil fascists seize power across the sea, minds bent on murder, and the storm of war rains bullets and bombs across the countryside. Hope emerges in a feat of super science—an American soldier with a heart of gold and fists like iron to strike down the fascist threat. That hope is Captain America.
This is an image of actor Jennifer Mohr as Captain America for designer Erin Gallagher’s “gender-bent Jazz Age superhero” costume line.
Erin Gallagher shared some thoughts last week on the background for this project. Notably: she challenged herself to create the costumes using materials she had on hand without buying anything new. Gallagher translated various aspects of the superheroes’ costumes into elements of fashion—for instance, this “gender-bent Jazz Age” Cap’s iconic shield has been rendered as a handbag.
The subject, Jennifer Mohr, is an actor, seamstress, dancer, teacher, commedia performer, the subject of many of our previous photo sessions, and currently the first portrait that appears on distantera.com.
The Flag
The worn old flag in the background has only forty-eight stars, which means it was made prior to 1959 and would have been the American flag of both the Jazz Age and the Second World War; it lacks stars for Alaska and Hawaii, which were added tot he American flag in 1959.
This flag was discovered hanging in the closet of a house recently purchased by my friends Billy Bullion and Sarah Scanlon, who belong to a thought-provoking neo-commedia theatre called The Conspirators. Incidentally, their pup’s name is “Captain Steve Rogers.” We are grateful to Billy and Sarah for use of this antique, period prop.
The Photograph
When we shot this session in December 2019, I thought of what Captain America meant to me. It had been a tough couple of years. In my life, people seemed harder, less willing to listen, discuss, or compromise; more likely to divide, cut ties, and alienate. But Captain America inspires hope that truth and decency will prevail, that we can unite behind a good cause in spite of our differences, that there is virtue in dealing fairly and honestly with others. It had felt like a dark time, and in this portrait I thought about how to show an emerging light.
I focused the light with a grid so that it would only touch the subject while leaving the rest of the scene in shadow. I placed the light above and behind Cap, to the left of the flag, short lighting Cap’s face so that the side facing the camera is mostly in shadow, with just a touch of light on the camera-facing cheek. I wanted the light to come into the image from the background like a misty new dawn—Cap looking into the camera as if to say, “I’ve got this. Everything’s going to be all right.”
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