In one photo, two men dressed as Confederate soldiers recline against a Domino’s Pizza, the bright red and blue colors of the company’s iconography standing out in stark contrast to the muted blues of history the men are wearing. The photo suggests the further we are from historical events, the more they fade from our collective memory.
In another photo, five soldiers with vintage weapons take aim over a backyard fence, a stock suburban neighborhood visible behind them. The soldiers who fought on the land on which the community now sits were exposed to many dangers the people who now live in the houses will likely never know.
One possible message of these and the other photos that are a part of the “State of the Union” photography exhibit by Gregg Segal, on display at Warehouse Row through January 31, is clear: We walk on the soil of history every day without pausing to consider the past.
On the ground on which we now live, men once fought and died for ideals that shaped our nation. Today, we sell fast food and build suburban sanctuaries on the same soil without pausing to think about the blood that was spilled on that very spot. Could the message of Segal’s photos be that we’ve exchanged our idealism for commercialization? The jarring invasion of the past in the present seen in the images suggest this might be the case.
This is certainly something to consider while looking at the provocative and ingeniously playful 18-piece collection. The artwork is part of a strolling exhibit, with pieces displayed throughout the first floor of Warehouse Row’s North and South buildings and available for viewing during business hours, which are from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday.
Warehouse Row is a fitting home for the exhibit. The building has been a rich part of Chattanooga’s history for more than 100 years and now plays a key role in the city’s vibrant downtown. The walls of the beautifully restored historic buildings, which stand on the land where Union forces constructed a stone fort during the war, are the perfect backdrop for the thought-provoking exhibit about the Civil War and modern culture.
To complete the project, Gregg Segal worked with Robert Lee Hodge, a central figure among re-enactors and widely recognized as an authority on the Civil War. Over the course of a year, Hodge guided Segal to the actual sites of specific battles in Virginia, Pennsylvania, Georgia, Kentucky and Tennessee.
“State of the Union” has toured a number of American cities, including Fairfax, Va., for a showing at George Mason University and New York City at Chelsea Market. For a preview of the exhibit or a peek at more of the artist’s photography, visit greggsegal.com.