MAN DOWN is a series of photographic portraits that depict collapse in the form of the
tall white man in his blue business suit. In each photo the man is face down, head turned
away from the camera, body devoid of action. The images evoke a sensation of loss,
surrender, and perhaps a final peace. Each image provokes a story whose ending might
seem clear but whose circumstances remain open to interpretation. The locations of the
photographs are crucial to the viewing experience and vary from urban to wilderness, a
field of wildflowers, the men’s room at Port Authority, a stone quarry, the side of a busy
highway. Man Down is a fallen character, symbolizing a broken system at the end of an
era. Man Down asks the viewer to look at these places in a new context, to witness a
faceless man who is finished, and perhaps to think anew about the roles we play in the
creation of our world.
The slideshow below is a small sampling of the project. Photographs by Teddy Jefferson.
