Connie Stevens vs. Paul Shambroom

Grant Williams and Connie Stevens, Susan Slade, 1961

Last night I was invited to the Boonville, Missouri City Council Meeting. Shortly after I walked in I was introduced to the council and asked to say something. I had been having a rough day and I almost didn't make it to the meeting. Out of breath and a bit disoriented, I went through the shpeel that is Boonville USA. It wasn't a disaster but it was far from awesome.

Then, immediately after I got done, Connie Stevens walked to the podium and gave a wonderful 15 minute talk about her connection to Boonville during the 1951 flood, her affinity for the Katrina victims in New Orleans and how she wants to make a movie in Boonville. I felt it was my duty to get some reactions while the council was eagerly watching this former(?) movie star talk about good ol' Boonville.

Meanwhile, all I could think of was this...


Copyright Paul Shambroom, Dassel, Minnesota (population 1134) City Council, March 15, 1999 (L to R): Nancy Nicholson, Ava FlachmeyerSherlyn Bjork (Deputy Clerk) (Mayor), Jan Casey,

From the moment I walked into the court house and saw the council members behind their desks with their name plates and official gear, all I could think of was Paul Shambroom. Mr. Shambroom is an artist/photographer living in Minnesota and between 1999-2003 he photographed City Council meetings in a number of states across the country. When I first saw this series, complete with each meeting's minutes in the back of the book, I was mesmerized. It completely shys away from the typical tale of small-town America, yet it is full of insight, honesty and corruption. Many photographers today rely on irony to tell their story; Although cynicism is possibly the backbone of his "long-term investigation of power", Mr. Shambroom hits on it perfectly, creating an honest view-point of Government relations in small-town America .

"A common impulse in these projects is my quest as one individual to understand and illuminate seemingly overwhelming and abstract power systems. Although town council and community meetings are open to the public, the process of governance can still seem somewhat invisible and separate from the lives of ordinary people (as evidenced by the fact that many of the meetings I photographed were sparsely attended.)"

"... After driving several hundred back-road miles I pulled up to the town meeting hall and there had the privilege of seeing democracy in its purest form as farmers, teachers and insurance agents conducted the business of their community. In a time in which there is talk of “exporting democracy” it seems especially pertinent to look at the often imperfect and sometimes beautiful way in which we practice this form of government at home in America."