Benita Keller, a West Virginia native and excellent photographer and photojournalist, caught my eye a while back when I was scrolling through a list of photographers and decided to do a little more digging.

I came across her "Trailer & Trash: OR Looking Through Rose Colored Glasses" series, a selection of portraits staged in front of an all-pink set that takes flea market front yard kitsch to a whole new level. Kitsch and myself have been having a love affair for 26 years and counting. I fell in love immediately.

I'm a firm believer that one of the greatest statements you can make is to create a real life stereotypical caricature so extreme that it makes the audience stop and ask themselves exactly why they believe the stereotype is true. The characters in each setting of this series seem to take the trailer trash stereotype to ridiculously epic proportions, but what you end up with is a living pictorial commentary on poverty, prejudice, and sexist ideals.

Benita Keller, you rock my socks. Rock on.

Labels: Appalachia, Appalachian life, benita keller, photography, West Virginia