Claire Beckett (born 1978) is an American photographer known for her exploration of post-9/11 America.

Early life and education

Born in Chicago, Illinois, Beckett lives and works in Boston, Massachusetts. She became interested in photography early in life and began to make pictures at the age of 16.[1] Beckett went on to earn a BA in anthropology at Kenyon College, and served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Benin, West Africa, before earning an MFA in photography from the Massachusetts College of Art (MassArt).[2]

Career

Beckett prefers to work with a large-format 4×5 film camera.[1] She has been a visiting faculty member from 2011-2018 at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts.[3][1]

Beckett’s projects include In Training, a look at young soldiers prior to deployment;[4] Hearts and Minds, an investigation of the depiction of Arabs and Muslims during military training exercises;[5][2] and The Converts, in which she photographed American converts to Islam.[6][7][8]

Beckett’s work is held in the collections of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston;[9] Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art,[10] Kansas City; Wadsworth Atheneum,[11] Hartford; and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge.[12] She has received an Artadia Award,[13] and was artist-in-residence at Light Work.[14] She also worked in a Sufi community in upstate New York.[6]

Her work has been featured in Artforum,[15] Public Culture,[16] and the Boston Globe.[5]

Beckett’s time as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Benin (2002-2004)[17] had a significant impact on her artwork. She served as a community health worker, living in a rural town with a mixed population of Christians, Muslims, and practitioners of Vodun, the local traditional faith. During these years, the United States was at war in Afghanistan and Iraq. The experience of deep cultural immersion, coupled with hearing firsthand her Beninese neighbors’ criticism of the wars, caused Beckett to view her home country with new eyes. Since then, themes of military training and the tension surrounding Islam in America have been prominent in her work.[2]

Selected exhibitions

Solo

  • Simulating Iraq, Bernard Toale Gallery, Boston, Massachusetts (2007)[18]
  • You Are…, Carroll and Sons Gallery (2011)
  • Claire Beckett: Matrix 163, Wadsworth Atheneum,[19] Hartford, Connecticut (2011)
  • The Converts, Carroll and Sons Gallery, Boston, Massachusetts (2016)

Group

References

  1. 1 2 3 Beete, Paulette (August 24, 2016). "Art Talk with Claire Beckett". NEA.
  2. 1 2 3 "Mossless in America: Claire Beckett". Vice. 3 March 2014. Retrieved 2020-03-02.
  3. ↑ Charski, Mindy (Fall 2018). "Star Teacher: Claire Beckett". PDN EDU. Retrieved March 6, 2020.
  4. ↑ "Photographs of Teenagers On the Way to Becoming Soldiers". October 31, 2008.
  5. 1 2 Smee, Sebastian (February 13, 2012). ""Simulating Iraq" at the Wadsworth Atheneum". Boston.com. Boston Globe Media Partners, LLC. Retrieved 2020-03-08.
  6. 1 2 Teicher, Jordan G. (6 June 2016). "These Americans Will Make You Think Twice About What Muslims Look Like". Slate Magazine. Retrieved 2020-03-02.
  7. 1 2 ""The Outwin 2016" Finalist: Claire Beckett". Smithsonian: National Portrait Gallery. March 29, 2016.
  8. ↑ "These Are The Faces Of Islam In America". HuffPost. February 4, 2014.
  9. ↑ "Beckett, Claire". Museum of Fine Arts: Digital Collections. Retrieved 2020-03-06.
  10. ↑ "Private Dan Floyd at Basic Training, Fort Knox, KY". nelson-atkins museum of art. Retrieved 2020-03-06.
  11. ↑ "Wadsworth Atheneum Collection". argus.wadsworthatheneum.org. Archived from the original on 2019-03-25. Retrieved 2020-03-06.
  12. ↑ "MIT Student Lending Art Program". MIT Student Lending Art Program. Retrieved 2020-03-06.
  13. ↑ "Claire Beckett: Artadia Awardee, Boston 2009". Artadia. 2009. Retrieved March 6, 2020.
  14. ↑ "Claire Beckett – Light Work". www.lightwork.org. Retrieved 2020-03-06.
  15. ↑ "Nuit Banai on Claire Beckett". www.artforum.com. Retrieved 2020-03-06.
  16. ↑ Beckett, Claire; Banai, Nuit (2012-05-01). "Simulating Iraq: Cultural Mediation and the Effects of the Real". Public Culture. 24 (2 (67)): 249–259. doi:10.1215/08992363-1535489. ISSN 0899-2363.
  17. ↑ Lamuniere, Michelle (August 1, 2013). "Claire Beckett" (PDF). Contact Sheet: Light Work Annual. 172: 12–19.
  18. ↑ Smee, Sebastian (February 13, 2012). ""Simulating Iraq" at the Wadsworth Atheneum". Boston.com. Retrieved 2020-03-02.
  19. ↑ "MATRIX: 2010s". Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art. Retrieved 2020-03-06.
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