America was buzzing, it was 1990 and Bush senior, then President of the USA was going to give an address to the nation that night at 9pm. Everybody knew he was going to announce the first assault on Iraq. Armed with Leicas I trundled down to a bar on the west side of lower Manhattan to meet a friend. At 9pm Bush was on the screen. The cacophony of noise in the bar stopped; somebody pulled the plug on the jukebox. The only sound was Bush senior announcing the inevitable. War.<\/p>\n
This was the start of a two-year project that took me around America on a sort of post-Frank journey through politics, seeking to understand and deconstruct my own preconceptions of America \u2013 through parades, Presidential conventions and on the campaign trail. It seemed such a vast country: culturally diverse, young, growing and extremely powerful. Born of violent beginnings, and still struggling to reconcile its birth with its stubborn pioneering spirit. This was the America I encountered through “Democratic Vistas”.<\/p>\n