March for Life
Go babies, go babies, go!
As you know, my brother Gareth and I have an odd proclivity towards photographing and documenting the American right and their various rituals, gatherings and festivities. There was one consistent event that I kept missing: the March for Life which takes place every January in Washington DC. The problem had been that it always takes place on a Friday and I always forget to take the day off. This time I took care not to make the same mistake.
Coming out of the Smithsonian metro station onto the National Mall we were greeted by a row of upside down American flags alternating with distorted faux-mercian flags featuring a fasces where the field of stars should be. It could be none other than the notorious Patriot Front. If you’ve not heard of them, they’re basically a neo-fascist group lead by incel dressed like a boy scout, Thomas Rousseau. The group was being heckled to death and Rousseau in a strange sort of way seemed to enjoy almost hamming it up for the cameras. Though technically not part of March of Life, they show up every year.
As photographer I was somewhat excited for a chance to shoot these fascist freaks. However I ended up finding myself overly distracted by the malfunctioning and misfiring of the two new flashes I brought with me. They had worked almost perfectly when tested at and around home and now in the moment of truth, they shat the bed and gave me different varieties of mud. This alas took me out of the moment and left me flustered throughout the rest of the day. Lesson: always take along a bit of old gear that you know and trust just in case you need backup. In either case, I had to deal with what I had so I went back to winding through the crowds and did the best I could.
The rally eventually became a march onto the Supreme Court. As the great host wound its way towards its erstwhile enemy/newfound friend like some sort of vast placard and crucifix freckled wyrm, I weaved in and out of it examining it’s various components:
monks, nuns, cardinals and priests.
Evangelicals, Catholics and Orthodoxes.
Preppy Christian universities with rows of perfect teeth.
Crosses, crucifixes and rosary beads.
Icons of the Virgin Mary and the saints Peter, Mark and Charlie Kirk.
Gaudily clad MAGAs.
Rumpled young Groypers and Gen Z Catholic zealots whose fashion sense screamed homeschool mixed with Gestapo agent.
A fire breathing preacher who demanded the death penalty for women who had an abortion.
Giant images of foetal gore galore.
Strange and obscure hardline Catholic groups who would probably approve of Franco.
And as always Prometheus, the circumcision obsessed DC oddball/legend who dresses up like Santa Claus and preaches the gospel of the foreskin.
By the time we made it to the Supreme Court I was worn out and famished. The sun had finally decided to come out. The last of one of those uniformed arcane Catholic groups peeled by with tall red banners flapping in the air and the wail of flutes and bagpipes. The confluence of the events pageantry plus my exhausted state made the whole affair seem like a walk through a vividly surreal fever dream. Perhaps in this state I would find my self confronting divine revelation that would lead me back to The Church I had long ago left, but instead I found the effect to be the opposite.
Gareth and I reconvened at Union Station, refilled our stomachs and grumbled about our mutual technical issues that had surely made us lose a lot of potential pictures. At home though, after a bit of post-processing and editing down, we managed to scrape together a decent enough set each. Happily, our photographic efforts didn’t end up a total abortion after all.
Afterword: the next day, Alex Pretti was murdered by ICE in Minneapolis. It made me think of those who attended the march the day prior. Did their “pro-life” bona fides extend to those murdered by the regime I’m sure the vast majority of them voted for? My guess, for most of them, is probably not. Cognitive dissonance is a feature not a bug of these gatherings.
Anyway, here’s your Jon Stewart style moment of zen:
yikes. Great photos though.
Brilliant article Gavin. Terrifying. Be safe out there!