The cardboard facade of cheesy Americana created by guys like Norman Rockwell is starting to crack and crumble, revealing the raw hatred, racism and xenophobia lurking beneath.
Which is why some of those old photos showing a carefree and happy America full of smiling, well adjusted and tolerant people just seem creepy knowing what we know today.
Photographer Weronika Gesicka has taken a collection of creepy archive photos from the 50s and 60s, and remixed them into something even creepier, to fit the topsy-turvy America of today.
Weronika's remixed photos cause the viewer to wonder whether what we see in each scene is truth, or whether the truth is hidden behind a wall of denial:
“Who are, or were, these people in the images? Are they actors playing happy families, or real persons whose photos were put up for sale by the image bank? That is not fully clear”.
“I try to erase, as much as I can, the difference between an original image and my own alteration, creating a completely new history at the same time”.
“These photos, modified in various ways, are wrapped in new contexts: our recollections of people and situations are transformed and gradually blur”.