this is a test

The title, This Is A Test, refers to the Emergency Broadcast System messages that aired on American televisions from 1963 to 1997. While these messages were meant for national emergencies, they also subtly influenced public perception and instilled a sense of controlled fear. Just as the television screen was a crucial tool to export culture from the West, it also served to maintain order domestically.

Growing up, operating the video camera was a family affair, and I embraced the role of its operator. This Is A Test is built upon Hi8 stills I made in my childhood, starting in the late 80s, providing a glimpse into my parents' assimilation into American culture. Building on these are photographs made since 2020, often wrapped in golden light, reflecting on a modern version of Foucault’s “disciplinary society” and revealing how structures may regulate and control us.

The project addresses contemporary issues like the American dream, immigration, and family, while also commenting on visual language. John Szarkowski has talked about how photography is not a universal language but a universal technique. Unlike Greek or algebra, it cannot be translated with an acceptable degree of precision into other languages. How one interprets this body of photographs is much like the variance in responses to the Emergency Broadcast System.

This Is a Test is a project about childhood, belonging, and control. It tells a story of grappling with identity during assimilation and dissecting generational differences. It speaks to the contemporary feelings of the suffocation of impending catastrophe. This is a test.

- Jason Hendardy, 2024