In his photo essay, Christmas in America, photographer Jesse Rieser peels back the veneer and shows a deceidely different and, perhaps, somewhat austere look at America’s biggest holiday. This is not the saccharin-sweet, tinsel-clad Christmas portrayed in movies and on television but, rather, as Rieser puts it, “Beyond the glowing green and red lights, past the shimmering silvery tinsel, around the fragrant pine boughs, another Christmas lingers, a Christmas of contradictions. This Christmas is complex and at times, uncomfortable. It’s awkward and sometimes bleak. But it is also sincere and celebratory, colorful and creative.” There’s an unpretentious honesty to Riesen’s photography that, at times, reminds me of the work of William Eggleston.
[via PDN]
