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Claire Beckett
Claire Beckett (born 1978) is an American photographer known for her exploration of post 9/11 America.

Beckett’s projects include In Training, a look at young soldiers prior to deployment, Hearts and Minds, an investigation of the depiction of Arabs and Muslims during military training exercises, and The Converts in which she photographed American converts to Islam.

Beckett’s work is held in the collections of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City; Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford; and Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge. She has been awarded an Artadia Award and was artist-in-residence at Light Work. Her work has been featured in Artforum, Public Culture and The Boston Globe.

Born in Chicago, Illinois, Beckett lives and works in Boston, Massachusetts. She became interested in photography early in life and began to make pictures at the age of 16. Beckett went on to study anthropology at Kenyon College and served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Benin, West Africa, before earning at MFA in photography from Mass College of Art.

Beckett’s time in Benin (2002-2004) had a significant impact on her artwork. She served as a community health worker, living in a rural town with a mixed population of Christians, Muslims and practitioners of Vodun, the local traditional faith. During these years the United States was at war in Afghanistan and Iraq. The experience of deep cultural immersion, coupled with hearing firsthand her Beninese neighbors’ criticism of the wars, caused Beckett to view her home country with new eyes. Since then themes of military training and the tension surrounding Islam in America have been prominent in her work.

Selected Exhibitions

Solo

Simulating Iraq, Bernard Toale Gallery, Boston, MA (2007)

You Are…, Carroll and Sons Gallery (2011)

Claire Beckett: Matrix 163, Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford, CT (2011)

The Converts, Carroll and Sons Gallery, Boston, MA (2016)

Group

Warzone, Noorderlicht Photography Festival, Leeuwarden, NL (2010)

Reality Check, Fotodok, Utrecht, NL (2011)

The Workers, Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, North Adams, MA (2011)

Character Study, deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum, Lincoln, MA (2013)

American Soldier, Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO (2015)

The Outwin 2016: American Portraiture Today, National Portrait Gallery, Washington, DC (2016)

On Freedom, curated by For Freedom, Aperture Foundation, New York, NY (2017)

Be Strong and Do Not Betray Your Soul, Light Work, Syracuse, NY (2018)

External Links

Official website (https://www.clairebeckett.com/)

National Endowment for the Arts, interview https://www.arts.gov/art-works/2016/art-talk-claire-beckett

Behold at Slate.com, https://slate.com/culture/2016/06/claire-beckett-photographs-american-converts-to-islam-in-her-series-the-converts.html

Face to Face at the National Portrait Gallery, interview https://npg.si.edu/blog/outwin-2016-finalist-claire-beckett

Vice, interview https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/jmbgmg/mossless-in-america-claire-beckett

Huffington Post, https://www.huffpost.com/entry/claire-beckett_n_4698020

Boston Globe, review by Sebastian Smee http://archive.boston.com/ae/blogs/sebastiansmee/2012/02/simulating_iraq_at_the_wadswor.html

Feature Shoot, interview https://www.featureshoot.com/2008/10/claire-beckett-boston/