Jason Hendardy is an American artist
Episode 426: Nearest Truth Photobook Program alumni Jason Hendardy joins me to discuss his exceptional new book, This is a Test, designed by Jason Koxvold and published by Gnomic Book.
In transparency, it is a book developed over our year-long course. I mention this as I think it’s a fucking badass book, tho I might be a bit partial. I also wrote the essay accompanying the book, which I am proud of. Every once in a while, I get to write for an artist who trusts how I will navigate the work in written form and gives me carte blanche to do what I like. From a writing standpoint, these are usually the bigger personal payloads for me, so my thanks to the artist and publisher for letting me off the leash to invoke my Lucio Fulci and Abel Ferrara obsessions.
Jason’s book reflects a continued trend in American life and art to deconstruct the nature of the country’s visage and promises. As a child born to Indonesian parents who emigrated to America, Jason’s position is between the world of growing up American and the confusion of family idealization of acclimation and natural/generational cultural inheritance interrogates the roots of the American experiment. His images, many shot on Hi-8 recordings, transform, through the proxy of the American Broadcast System, an exchange of patriotic warnings that suggest anxiety and a nation more imperiled than the transmission of its image may imply.
Throughout the episode, Jason and I go through our shared roots in America, music, and growing up at a particular time before 9/11 that challenged how we both saw the country and ourselves within it. There is more to the story, but it will remain within the broadcast. Enjoy! It is one of the best photobooks of the year.
Original Press Release
This is a Test refers to the Emergency Broadcast System messages that aired on American televisions from 1963 to 1997. While these messages were intended to signal national emergencies, they subtly influenced public perception and instilled a sense of controlled fear. Just as the television screen was a crucial tool to export culture from the West, it also maintained order domestically.
Growing up, operating the video camera was a family affair, and Hendardy embraced the role of its operator. This Is A Test is built upon Hi8 stills made during childhood, providing a glimpse into his family’s assimilation into American culture. Building on these are photographs made since 2020, often wrapped in golden light, reflecting on a present-day interpretation of Foucault’s “disciplinary society” and how structures may regulate and control us.
This is a Test addresses contemporary issues like the American dream, immigration, and family, explored through the filter of visual language. The project tells a story of grappling with identity during assimilation and dissecting intergenerational differences. It speaks to the contemporary feelings of the suffocation of impending catastrophe. This is a test.
AUTHOR: Jason Hendardy
ESSAYIST: Brad Feuerhelm
TITLE: This is a Test
PUBLICATION YEAR: 2024
ISBN: 978-1-957301-06-8
128 pages, 62 plates
280x217x13mm, 747 grams
EDITION: 500; First edition, first printing
