Rachel Maddow by Lisa Rogak

Author:Lisa Rogak
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: St. Martin's Publishing Group

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The longer Susan and Rachel were together as a couple, the more they thrived. Because Rachel was admittedly more one-dimensional in her interests, she came to rely on Susan’s artistic sensibilities in broadening her horizons. “She cares about things other than politics, and I am kind of politics obsessed.… She’s got adult interests that aren’t politics, and so I do not deserve her,” Rachel said.

She also adored the cute handkerchiefs that Susan gave her; Rachel particularly appreciated them since she had a tendency to become a bit misty and emotional on air. But they also served a valuable purpose when it came to feeding Rachel’s vast array of superstitions: “A handkerchief can never be put in another pocket after it has been in one pocket,” she said. “I don’t walk under ladders. I have items of clothing that are lucky for me. That rotates, but I am luck oriented.”

Perhaps it wasn’t a surprise that Susan’s career also benefited from Rachel’s increased visibility. More important, her partner’s fame—and the financial success that came with it—made it possible for Susan to give up the part-time bookkeeping jobs she’d been cobbling together for years, most recently for Mass Humanities, a local nonprofit organized to expand humanities programs at social programs throughout the state.

She’d always dreamed of being a full-time artist, but now that the chance had finally arrived, she hesitated about making the jump. Like Rachel, Susan had lived a fiercely independent life for years and was reluctant to give it up. They regularly discussed the issue, and Rachel finally encouraged her to take the leap, telling her, “It’s about the fable you want to write about your own life.”

So in early 2009, Susan took down her bookkeeping shingle and become a full-time artist. Indeed, her first year was a whirlwind success right out of the gate, with openings at galleries in New York, Provincetown, and San Francisco.

Like her partner, Susan is passionate about particular American traditions, and she possesses a strong patriotic streak, especially when it comes to the industrial buildings and structures she calls upon in her own work. “There is something really beautifully American and wonderful about these places,” she said.

Her choice of medium reflected her sensibilities: She worked almost exclusively with Polaroid cameras and obviously expired film. “My whole art life changed when I discovered old Polaroid cameras and peel-apart film,” she said.

In addition to working with the unpredictability of old film that is constantly changing because of age and climate—which helps contribute to the otherworldly sensibility that’s present in much of her work—Susan has shunned techniques that many other photographers consider to be necessary tools in their arsenal: She refuses to crop her photos, she only enlarges them; doesn’t like to use flash or other artificial light; and eschews the use of Photoshop or other software programs to tinker with the end result.

Her photographs captured a bygone era through a gauzy filter. For one 2010 show, American Device: Recent Photographs, she traveled along the coasts of

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