REIMAGINING AMERICA: PORTRAITS I
At the crossroads of reality and fiction, in the heart of mid-20th century American culture, lies LuckyLand, an imaginary city that has come to life in a unique series of portraits. In this collection of images, we delve into the faces, dreams, and stories of the inhabitants of this land shaped by the pervasive influence of the media.
The portraits of LuckyLand are not merely a representation of reality but an exercise in the construction of visual imagery. As media and culture critic Douglas Kellner pointed out, "Media are powerful in that they construct social reality by providing cultural models, symbols, and myths." In this project, we use imagination to reshape these cultural models and myths.
1950s American culture was an era of mirages and dreams, a golden age of television, the rise of rock and roll, and a growing obsession with glamour and consumerism. Authors like Guy Debord reflected on the creation of a "society of the spectacle," where reality blends with media representations, and Jean Baudrillard examined how the media construct a "hyperreal reality" that often overlaps with the authentic.
In LuckyLand, we explore the faces of those who lived in this America of the imagination, where a neighbor could be a Hollywood movie star or a budding astronaut. Each portrait takes us on a journey through aspirational lifestyles and unwavering dreams of a bygone era that still influences our understanding of American culture.
This series of portraits pays tribute to the transformative power of media and the collective construction of a cultural imagination. In every gaze and smile, in every gesture and lost look, we discover a small piece of the mosaic that is LuckyLand, a land where the boundaries between the real and the imaginary blur, and where dreams are as reality.
Concept / Art Direction / AI
Luciano Koenig Dupont a.k.a Lucky
