The CAPTIONS Framework

Developed by Abigail Hunke

Chaos & Crisis: These photographs represent how existing American practices,
institutions, belief systems, and societal norms come under critique, and how those

C conventions are challenged; how alternatives to these practices, institutions, belief

systems, and societal norms emerge, and how these calls to challenge the status quo can
lead, or fail to lead, to transformation.
These are moments of protest, struggle, and scandal that lead to changing values
and attitudes in the United States.
Anxiety: These photographs show times of uncertainty and fear, times that test the

A American spirit, and daunting trials that are seemingly unsurmountable.

These are moments of economic depression, foreign threats to peace, traumatic
flashes, and national tragedy that leave Americans desperate for hope.
Politics & Power: These photographs depict the forms power takes in the political

P
world and in human culture, in relationships between individuals and in relationships
between groups and nations. What role does America play in world affairs? How does
the United States acquire influence and expand its power on the global stage?
These are moments power is used and abused, gained and lost, asserted and
contested in actual concrete circumstances of the past and the present.
Triumph: These photographs highlight great victories, economic prosperity, and

T successful endeavors that inspire generations.

These are moments of celebration and pride; Flags are raised, monuments made,
headlines rave. These are times America is on top of the world.
Innovation: These photographs signify bold, creative solutions to complex challenges

I
through the creation and transmission of new knowledge. These intellectual, scientific,
and technological developments have significant political, economic, cultural, social,
and even moral effects on American society and the world.
These are moments of dramatic innovation in business, science, and the world of
ideas to explore, question, disrupt, and change society for better or worse.
Oppression & Outrage: These photographs expose great rifts in American society;

O between rich and poor, white and black, “native” and immigrant. Citizens who are
ignored, left behind, and held back by mainstream America; women, the gay
community, people of different races and religions.
These are moments social injustice and violations of civil rights are exposed in
striking contrast, corruption, cruelty, and disgrace.
National Identity: These photographs inform our understanding of the construction of

N ourselves within social, political, and cultural contexts. Definitions and perceptions of
America’s national identity have developed and been challenged over time.
These are moments that establish the political laws that govern and cultural values
that direct a generally accepted order of things in the United States- “Who are we?”
Social and Organizational Development: These photographs illustrate the economic,

S political, and cultural factors that have influenced the form and status of family, class,
and social groups. They spotlight social trends, patterns, and practices that become mass
culture; Americans on the move decade after decade shifting populations and power.
These are moments distinct, organized groups emerge as well as moments of mass
culture that unite Americans around common products and entertainment.