PRC Speaker Series with Claire Beckett

The Photographic Resource Center hosts photographer Claire Beckett to discuss her series, "Simulating Iraq," on Wednesday, Nov. 16. This series was created from 2006–2017 when Claire embedded herself on military bases within the United States, photographing the depiction of Arabs and Muslims within the context of counterinsurgency training for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Features of these training environments included costumed role-players, elaborate Hollywood inspired sets and staged tableaus hinting at the imagined lives of far-away people. Those portrayed in Beckett’s photographs include military personnel, often combat veterans playing the role of enemy combatants, immigrants from Iraq or Afghanistan intended to make the training look and feel realistic as well as local American civilians hired to populate the artificial villages. This is a hybrid event, and tickets are $15 for the online and in-person sessions.