When I first met Mariah Karson in 2014 she was working on a personal project of her own about small town American Legion posts to create a time capsule about dying community spaces. While researching the project she discovered her grandfather had been a member.
Mariah being a person who’s fascinated by people in small towns, and as a working photographer took on the project. She researched locations all across the country and chose locations in towns with populations of less than 1000 people in California, Illinois, Virginia and Nebraska. She wrote and self-published the hardcover book. This took many years. I very much admired her efforts to celebrate the selfless veterans of small town America. The photo essay became a beautiful art show. The book is beautiful and was celebrated by many in the art community, providing opportunities for panel discussions about patriotism and women artists, invitations to art exhibitions, and even a radio interview.
After capturing her portrait on the street in Logan Square Mariah suggested this nearby tank. This monument had been donated by American Legion Post 623, an online chapter with no actual brick and mortar space, dedicated to “Veterans of All Wars and Conflicts”. We drove over. Mariah removed some of the garbage around and on the tank. She easily hopped up. We captured the second Modern Rosie portrait of Mariah as a symbolic tribute to her patriotic art.
Sadly, as time ticked on Mariah found herself conflicted with her American Legion work. The tenor of our country became difficult for her to celebrate the patriotism which inspired this book and the people within the American Legion culture. Her country’s lack of support for women, their health, their bodies or their voices, created angry anxiety filled days. She’d often go on sabbaticals to remote places stateside and abroad to escape the news.
Late 2021 became too much for her to handle as more rights for women became stripped away. She chose to exercise her right to leave a country that was daily making her feel less than, and made plans to live out of the country permanently. Choosing a new career and life in a safer place.
This portrait of Mariah atop this tank continues to evolve as a powerful statement about American women’s strength, vulnerability, and independence.
Photographed October 2018