Mark Peterson: The Past Is Never Dead

Dramatic images of an ever-more chaotic and divided America

Over the past 10 years, New York-based photographer Mark Peterson (born 1955) has focused his lens on America's divided political landscape. The Past Is Never Dead takes up Peterson's ongoing documentation where his award-winning book Political Theatre, depicting the troubled lead-up to the 2016 presidential election, left off. He captures a time in which the left and right move further apart, misinformation and untruths abound in the media, and politicians have no qualms in breaking the fourth wall to recruit audiences to their causes. Peterson portrays a country on edge, through subjects such as "Stop the Steal" protesters and the January 6, 2021 attack on the United States Capitol. With his trademark flash and high-contrast approach, Peterson's dramatic black-and-white images are like X-rays of America's complex political culture: "Democracy is a messy form of government," he declares, "and I try and capture it in all its chaos."