Civil Atrocities - Amy Bassin

Civil Atrocities
Archival inkjet print, 2020

Civil Atrocities was inspired by the Trump administration, the events leading up to the 2020 election, the January 6, 2021 insurrection, and the American Civil War of 1861 while addressing man’s inhumanity to man. The tableaux I photograph for this series were created with children’s toy soldiers and dolls rooted in imaginative play, where toys were often stand-ins for a child’s simplistic view of right and wrong, good and evil. As I live through the compounded horrors of a powerful embracing of fascism, terrorism, gun violence, and the climate crisis, my work represents the destruction and fear that threatens my current day survival, as well as an impending apocalyptic future.

Civil Atrocities
Archival inkjet print, 2020

Civil Atrocities
Archival inkjet print

Civil Atrocities
Archival inkjet print, 2020

Civil Atrocities
Archival inkjet print

PROJECT STATEMENT

Civil Atrocities was inspired by the Trump administration, the events leading up to the 2020 election, the January 6, 2021 insurrection, and the American Civil War of 1861 while addressing man’s inhumanity to man. The tableaux I photograph for this series were created with children’s toy soldiers and dolls rooted in imaginative play, where toys were often stand-ins for a child’s simplistic view of right and wrong, good and evil. As I live through the compounded horrors of a powerful embracing of fascism, terrorism, gun violence, and the climate crisis, my work represents the destruction and fear that threatens my current day survival, as well as an impending apocalyptic future.