Tailgate©Sonnie Wooden — *Tailgate*
©Sonnie Wooden

Images and text by Sonnie Wooden.

Who Do You Know Here is a body of work reflecting on my time at the University of Iowa. I attended the University of Iowa after transferring from School of The Art Institute of Chicago. I was out of the big city and now in rural America. It is the home of the Iowa Writers Workshop, the Hawkeyes, and Big Ten Greek Life. In my first few weeks there, I attended some gatherings and rush (recruitment) events at various fraternities. I was always interested in fraternities before I joined one because their relationship to power confused me. I needed to understand what was inside of these large houses that were run by 19-22-year olds who had most of the soft power on campus (outside of athletics).

Shipman©Sonnie Wooden — *Shipman*
©Sonnie Wooden

As a brother of the fraternity I entered into something I had only scene in movies, while most of it wasn’t cinematic, some of it should have been. Audis, Lamborghinis, and Porsches were family cars; lake houses were common; student loan debt was rarely spoken of. We took mini vacations during the semester to Wisconsin Dells, Lake of The Ozarks, and even winter ski retreats during Winter break.

Tyndale & Sonnie©Sonnie Wooden — *Tyndale & Sonnie*
©Sonnie Wooden

As an artist in a fraternity, I felt like a spy who took a Hippocratic oath to respect the fraternity. For me, I had to photograph my fraternity brothers because they had everything, and I wanted to at least have some of it. I needed to find a way to leave such a confusing and complicated space with something real and tangible. The money, the hedonism, and even the fact my fraternity was not a “stereotypical” fraternity implicated me in ways I could not understand.

R&K©Sonnie Wooden — *R&K*
©Sonnie Wooden

I had to understand my proximity to whiteness and the culture of elitism. In those rooms and hallways, I was being groomed to be some sort of “leader.” A leader who has ties to Neil Gorsuch, Mike Pence, Trump Jr., and Calvin Coolidge. I became part of something that stand in opposition of so many people, while simultaneously learning the ways in which these environments can compound into a great wealth or a plethora of networking opportunities.

ButterKnife©Sonnie Wooden — *ButterKnife*
©Sonnie Wooden

My approach was very simple, bring my camera, do not touch anything, and document everything I possibly could. I was there to be a witness, but I ended up becoming a spy. In order for me to combat against the status quo of fraternity culture, I had to smuggle some things out. Not only did I do that, but I still wanted to give them dignity. They were and are my friends, they did help me when I was down on my luck. More importantly, the hedonism was not my largest issue, but the access to capital, people, and such soft power at a young age made no sense to me. Their ability to actualize was not implicated by nearly anything besides their own desire to do what they wanted.