Promised Land

"...beautiful fields God has blessed." 2007

Next week I have the MARN Mentors show opening. I will be showing 7 pieces from a project titled Promised Land. I thought I would spend the next week posting them here as well.

Artist Statement:

I’m interested in what I perceive as contradictions.

When I learned of a paintball park called Promised Land, which advertised itself as “America’s best Christian paintball park,” my upbringing by a pacifist minister compelled me to investigate.

Church youth groups and members at the private facility play scenario games such as “The Nuke,” Revolutionary War” and “Outlaw Island” on fields named “The Far East,” “The Badlands” and “The Congo.” Opposing teams each take turns role-playing “Special Forces” members or “terrorists.” The guns shoot paintballs custom made with the evangelical “Jesus fish” symbol. Trophies are awarded at the end of the day to accompany the stains and welts of paintball combat.

John Szarkowski wrote in Mirrors and Windows: American Photography since 1960, about the conception of a photograph: “is it a mirror, reflecting a portrait of the artist who made it, or a window, through which one might better know the world?”

My intent is to question the viewer as I question myself, and American culture, as to whether there is contradiction in serving the Prince of Peace by providing a place for aggressive confrontation.

The photograph titles are quotes from testimonials written by people who have played at Promised Land.