Mark Peterson

Over the past ten years Mark Peterson has focused his lens on the divided political landscape America has become.

The Fourth Wall takes up Peterson's ongoing documentation where his award-winning book Political Theatre, depicting the troubled lead-up to the 2016 presidential election, left off. He captures a time in which the left and right move further apart, misinformation and untruths abound in the media, and politicians have no qualms in breaking the fourth wall to recruit audiences to their causes. Peterson tackles these schisms head-on and portrays a country on edge, through subjects such as "Stop the Steal" protesters and the 6 January 2021 attack on the United States Capitol. With his trademark flash and high-contrast approach, Peterson's dramatic black-and-white images are like X-rays of America's complex political culture: "Democracy is a messy form of government," he declares, "and I try and capture it in all its chaos."

In Peterson's case and ours there is nothing more frightening than the truth ... his light and his framing construct visual revelations, which enter into the timeless avenue of the metaphor. - Larry Fink