Edie Winograde : Place and Time / Reenactment Pageant

Prompted by accounts in American history of its Native people and pioneering settlers and inspired by a fascination with a unique cultural phenomenon, Colorado artist Edie Winograde takes an expansive view of re-enactment dramas throughout the West. A subject matter that is part theatrical entertainment and part education, the captured or reframed dramas allow for a reconsideration or a reclaiming of the mythological West. The battleground scenes and the stories told of the first European settlements are deeply rooted within the history of the territory – one that encompassed the expanse of Manifest Destiny. 

Very often taking place at the actual sites where the epic incidents unfolded and by using long distance views and long-exposure techniques, Winograde purposely allows for an overarching take on the action. Through her contemporary lens and perspective, Winograde’s freeze-framed accounts of the West illuminates what was once accepted as chronicled truth and still maintained by many. She offers a curious, less absolute view while seeing outside the prescribed area of play of written history’s passionate practitioners.  The artist states, “My interest in these events--aside from the obvious visual appeal of the extravagant theatrics--is to underscore their quality of mimesis and déjà vu. The reenactment pageants represent a unique window into the American psyche, combining historical facts, myths, and legends with theatrical devices to convey meaning to local audiences. They are often ritualistic and cathartic in nature, and have special and profound significance to the communities that create them. While there is a connection between my photographs and the tendency toward constructed reality in contemporary photography, it is important to note that these reenactments take place regardless of my decision to photograph them. I am a spectator, watching events unfold and allowing chance to play a large role in my photographic process.” Neither judgmental nor revisionist, Edie Winograde’s distinctive photographs allow for an open-ended and non-linear, communal interpretation of a very human endeavor – a longing for an ancestral connection as it mirrors life now. 

Edie Winograde has a B.A. in Environmental Studies, University of California, Santa Cruz and an M.F.A. in Photography and Related Media, School of Visual Arts, New York. Her work is in the permanent collections of Denver Art Museum, Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce, City and County of Denver Public Art Program, New York University Medical Center, UMB Bank, US Embassy Permanent Collection, Astana, Kazakhstan, Children's Hospital of Denver, Tiffany & Co., New York, Avon Company, New York, McKenna, Long & Aldridge, New York, Art Museum at Princeton University, Aaron Siskind Foundation Fellowship Collection, Special Collections Library, University of California, Santa Cruz and other collections. Winograde has received numerous recognitions including Colorado Creative Industries Career Advancement Award along with artist’s residencies at Kala Institute, Berkeley, California, Anderson Ranch Arts Center, Snowmass, Colorado, Constance Saltonstall Foundation, Ithaca, New York, Millay Colony, Austerlitz, New York and an Aaron Siskind Foundation Photographer's Fellowship, New York, among others. Her work has been exhibited at Museum of Contemporary Art, Denver, Aspen Art Museum, Nicolaysen Art Museum, WY, Seattle Art Museum, San Diego Museum of Art, Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum, CT, Bronx Museum of the Arts, Mizel Center for Arts and Culture and others.