"This is a Test" available for pre-order
Friends,
I’m thrilled to share that my new book, This is a Test, is being published by Gnomic Book this month. For those who have already pre-ordered, thank you—it means the world to me. If you haven’t pre-ordered yet, there are still a couple of days left. If you’re interested and able, now is the time. You can pre-order the book HERE.
I began working on This is a Test in late 2019. The book brings together photographs made over more than three and a half decades—Hi8 stills I started creating as early as four years old, contemporary photographs, and images I made and then manipulated on old tube televisions. When I started the project, I wasn’t entirely sure what it would become. But as I continued to work on it, share it with other photographers, receive critiques, and obsess, stress, and lose sleep over it, I realized I was making something I needed to share. It’s not an easy book to take in, but it’s one I had to make. I've included my write-up about the project below.
The Physical Book
This is a Test includes an essay by Brad Feuerhelm (Nearest Truth / American Suburb X) and was designed by Jason Koxvold (Koxvold.com). It was offset printed using LED-UV in the Netherlands by NPN Drukkers. The book is 128 pages, 62 plates, measures 280x217x13mm, weighs 747 grams, and is a first edition of 500 copies. It features a Swiss binding and a holographic foil-embossed title.
About 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.
Pre-order This is a Test
https://gnomicbook.com/products/this-is-a-test
New York City
On Saturday, September 14th, at 4PM, I’ll be signing copies of This is a Test at the ICP Photobook Fest.
79 Essex Street New York, NY 10002
https://pbf.icp.org/
Seattle
I will be exhibiting work from This is a Test at Solas Gallery in Seattle. Please join me at the opening on Saturday, September 21. The show will be up until November 2nd.
300 South Washington Street Unit Z, Seattle, WA 98104
https://www.solas.gallery/exhibitions/jason-hendardy-this-is-a-test
Have fun,
Jason Hendardy
https://www.jasonhendardy.com/
@jasonhendardy
Congratulations, looking forward to getting a copy!