Face in the Crowd

For ten years, Prager has staged imaginary scenes for her camera—dream worlds in Technicolor, rife with tension and melodramatic fictions. Deftly blending archetypes from post-war America, her images have re-enacted and burlesqued media portrayals of women, drawing from classic Hollywood movies, fashion advertising and icons of documentary photography. Face in the Crowd expands on her tradition, but in her most ambitious and complex way to date. Blurring the line between fiction and reality, Prager directed the actions of hundreds of costumed actors on specially constructed sets creating congested public spaces including an airport terminal, a City Hall lobby, a beach and the Sunset 5 movie theatre. Densely detailed and shot from seemingly impossible vantage points, the work enacts psychological narratives of private and public revelation, repulsion, fear, personal safety and the desire for basic human interaction. (CoolConnections)