BRUCE KEYES
ABOUT
“It is this investigation into human nature and the meaning of expression, gesture and timing that Bruce Keyes brought to his Weapon of Choice series. Keyes invited an open forum of individuals to be photographed brandishing their favorite weapons. He shot thirty individuals in full figure before an enormous American flag. While the study deals with individual fascination of weaponry in today’s society, specifically in America with its diehard-grip on the 2nd Amendment, there is a duality to the meaning of weaponry in this urban, violent, and yet ethereal image.
By leaning into the phalanx of a lily, is Tatania, with her foreign-sounding name, turning, finally, away from a cycle of violence and towards nature, or is she commenting that nature itself is an innate component of human aggression? Keyes provides no definite answer, indicating only that to stand empty-handed before the stars and stripes is not an option. - Adam Falik
