Transcript

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Geoff Bennett: With the 2024 election just days away, there is no shortage of reflections on the state of American politics and democracy.

But photographer Paul Shambroom has a unique view. Shambroom’s images have been displayed at major American museums, including the Whitney and the Museum of Modern art. His recent project and book “Purpletown” used photos to examine the American cities and towns that are most evenly divided politically.

We spoke to Shambroom for our series Art in Action, exploring the intersection of art and democracy, and for our ongoing coverage of arts and culture, Canvas.

Paul Shambroom, Photographer, “Purpletown”: I’m not trained as a social scientist or a political scientist. I’m just a guy with a camera.

The country is extremely polarized now, maybe more so than I have ever seen it in my lifetime. 2020 just seemed like a turning point in terms of how we relate to each other. Many very smart people are writing and talking about polarization and the current political situation, but I’m just a real believer in kind of getting out there myself.

A purple town is a community that, specifically for this project, was either an exact tie or a very close or virtual tie in the 2020 U.S. presidential election. I’m really troubled by the notion that the country is so divided, not just politically, but in terms of how we feel about each other, and the notion that 30 or 40 percent of the people in this country have beliefs and values that are very different than mine.

That’s OK. But what’s going on now is that we’re just not accepting each other’s humanity. Photography and art is really a coping mechanism for me. It’s just a way for me to feel like I’m doing something to try and understand what’s going on in the world and maybe share it with other people.

I would look for places where people were gathering, whether it was an outdoor cafe or eating establishment or football games. If you’re in a small community that’s split down the middle, there’s a good chance that your kids go to school together. You may work together. You may go to church together or shop in the same stores.

And so I really wanted to see how that played out, to see if there really is a difference that is visible and noticeable. I wasn’t going into these places attempting to come up with some kind of definitive portrait of the community. It was more as if I had dropped in from outer space and didn’t know anything and didn’t know anybody, and I just walked around.

I wonder, if what I have seen in these small towns, which I take to be sort of a necessary civility because people are in such proximity to each other, and they just can’t afford to be jerks to each other. They just can’t get away with it. And I think that maybe used to be true on a broader level, on a more national level, but now we can find our little beehive of like-minded folks and express ourselves and be reinforced in beliefs that I think maybe are more extreme.

And it’s more acceptable because there’s an outlet now that didn’t exist before. I mean, honestly, I wish that I could take people that I know and force them into my car and drive to these places and have them walk around with me, because they have never done it before. And I know it’s true on the other side as well.

I live in Minneapolis. And if you believe what you hear from some people, they think that the city itself is some kind of crime-infested cesspool. And it’s not. The things that people believe about small-town rural America are not true either. And we just have to go to these places and see it.

People are always going to have differences. That’s what makes this world interesting. And I think it’s kind of what makes our democracy work when it does work. But I think we’re really at a turning point now where things can go really bad, or maybe we can start to recover our civility, and we’re just going to have to see what happens.

I tend to be an optimist at heart. And there are a lot of things to worry about with our democracy right now. I think we’re going to pull through. But that’s maybe my optimism more than my common sense speaking.

I really believe that everyone cares about this country, including leaders that I haven’t agreed with. I think deep down they believe what they’re doing is the right thing for our country. I think that’s part of what helps keep me sane and having some degree of hope.