Weekend Portfolio: Samuel Vladimirsky

Encore

 In the series “Encore,” I make portraits of re-enactment communities, as part of a larger project on the rituals and monuments dedicated to the preservation and presentation of history. 

Some of our strangest behaviors are performed in the interest of self-preservation, a sort of primal vanity that comes out when we try to remember and be remembered.

We have developed public rituals around remembering the past in the form of re-enactments, choreographed performances designed for members of a community to tap into a time-swept culture, place, or event. Generations of hobbyists, in full period costume, flock to the spot at which something of perceived importance took place, to ceremoniously re-stage the original course of history as they imagine it. 

But such events are reflective more of broad public imagination than historical reality, and done, in part, simply for the fun of charging at your best friend with a lance in one arm, and a hand-made rusty iron shield in the other. Predictably, merchandise booths (“ye old gift shop”) have sprung up to commercialize even the innocent act of remembering, selling wooden swords, plastic helmets, and flags of dubious historical accuracy. (Fun for the whole family!)

To view more of Samuel’s work, visit his website here.