Kristine Heykants

Heykants – American Beauty | It was the summer of 1993 and I had just returned to the US after living overseas for two years. I landed in Iowa and was studying photography. Roaming back-country roads in search of subjects that resonated with my new-found outsider’s perspective on my homeland, I was also exploring ideas about the value of women.

After happening upon a circus performance, I was attracted to the county fair and rodeo queen pageants that populate in the rural countryside in summer. They distilled my personal sense of indoctrination for consumption by the male gaze, and I could identify with a desire for validation.

At the time, I was looking at Diane Arbus’ iconoclastic portraits that revealed the humanity and frailty of her subjects. In this vein, American Beauty documents popular events at the intersection of women and the judgement of beauty. kristineheykants.com