More than twenty-seven years ago, my father shuffled into a passport photo booth near his basic training at Lackland Air Force Base. The sign he held up and that frank, military gaze made it look like a police line-up. I love this man, and for some reason, I love that photo. So much so that I turned that photograph into pop art and put it on a t-shirt. I’m not even kidding; I’m never getting rid of that shirt.
I don’t quite fill a frame like my father, but I wanted to create my own throwback portrait in homage to the man. It’s a funny thing to make history of the present and get lost in the process. For me, this image of my father was all about texture; its distinctive patina of age. By amping up the grain in my own image I was able to replicate a similar textural quality. But in recreating this beloved family artifact, I made something that was entirely me.
I’m feeling nostalgic; let’s start a revolution against resolution and bring some past into our present.
