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Project 06

America: Polarizingly United

Year
2023
Medium
Archival pigment prints on aluminium composite panels
Location
New York County Supreme Court, Manhattan
Photographed
April 4, 2023
Installation rendering with three supporting prints to the left, a large central diptych, and four supporting prints to the right beneath museum track lighting.
Two men face each other closely in a crowd; one wears a Trump cap, while others watch and film.
A man kisses the side of another man's Trump cap as they pose closely on a city sidewalk.
Young woman and man in Trump cap face each other in a crowded city scene, hands raised between them.
Man with gold glasses speaks into a white phone handset in a dense outdoor crowd.
Man in a suit films his reflection through metal bars with a phone on a city sidewalk.
Man in Trump cap reaches toward a small dog held by a person with a cardboard sign in a crowded street scene.
Person in orange outfit and blond mask faces metal bars; masked person with backpack stands nearby.
Person in orange outfit and Trump mask stands by metal bars while another person films with a phone.
Trump mask points toward the camera beside a cardboard sign reading “Arrest Trump $10.”

On April 4, 2023, supporters, opponents, reporters, spectators, and performers gathered outside the New York County Supreme Court during Donald Trump’s arraignment. For approximately twenty minutes, a Trump supporter and a protester argued as cameras and onlookers surrounded them. The exchange intensified until the two men stood face-to-face, shouting at close range. The crowd began chanting, “Kiss, kiss, kiss.” One man then leaned forward and kissed the other’s Trump hat. The people around them laughed, the confrontation ended, and the gathering dispersed.

America: Polarizingly United organizes nine photographs from the event across a single wall. Seven smaller prints situate the confrontation among barricades, political costumes, phones, cameras, competing signs, and other public performances. Two enlarged photographs form the central diptych, placing the argument beside the kiss that ends it. The physical interval between the images keeps the change abrupt and holds it inside the scene that produced it.

The sequence presents the kiss as a performance of submission to a political insignia. It gives the crowd an ending while leaving the opposition between the two men unresolved.

Questions and answers

About this work

What actually happens in the defining image?
A Trump supporter and a protester are inches from fighting when the surrounding crowd starts chanting 'Kiss, kiss, kiss.' One man leans in and kisses the other's Trump hat. The crowd laughs and disperses.
What does the central image mean?
The central diptych holds the confrontation beside the act that ends it. The sequence presents the kiss as a performance of submission to a political insignia. It gives the crowd an ending while leaving the opposition between the two men unresolved. The unity in the title belongs to the crowd around them.
Was AI used in this project?
No. MT photographed the protest as it unfolded, without staging or directing the people in the frame.