Tracy L Chandler is an American artist
Episode 445: Tracy L Chandler is an American artist whose book Deadbeat Club recently published a Poor Sort of Memory.
Throughout our conversation, Tracy and I discussed the making of her book and the themes that undergird its themes. Whereas one might read the terrain as landscape-forward and desert-focussed, much more is happening in the book’s subtext. Images of mysterious men enter and leave the sequence, and the rugged Californian landscape can be seen as a historical marker for Westward expansionism but also the faux-realities of manifest destiny.
Some of the sequence is based on themes of masculinity, family, and violence. In places, I am reminded of Sam Peckinpah and Sergio Leone films. Still, the desert landscape’s mystery overwhelms its beauty and capacity to threaten its inhabitants. We had an incredibly fruitful discussion about the work. Please tune in.
