Impersonating Elvis new book pays tribute to pop subcultures by Martha Watterson Elvis is alive and well. School of the Art Institute photography instructor Patty Carroll's new book, Living the Life! The World of Elvis Tribute Artists offers a glimpse into a subculture that many people don't know about. Through her photographs and text, Carroll communicates reverence and respect for the people of all ages, sexes, and races who have chosen to commit themselves to paying tribute to Elvis Presley-among the 74 artists are a Japanese female Elvis, a father-son duo and a Hispanic Elvez. Some are full-time entertainers who appear at clubs and other venues year-round. Others are regular guys whose day jobs range from house painter to insurance salesman. In his essay featured in Living the Life!, public radio cultural commentator Andrei Codrescu recounts his experience at the International Elvis Exposition where he first met Carroll. It was as if every community on earth, including sexual subcultures and foreign countries, had sent their ambassadors to present their vision of the King. Of the evening ball he attended, he says, [H]ad Elvis himself appeared during this orgy of Elvis-spirit, he would have ranked but tenth or eleventh. Throughout her career, Carroll has used aspects of popular culture as subject matter for her photographs and has focused on iconic images, like American hot dog stands. She has documented Elvis impersonators since the early 1990s, photographing them morphed into their full Elvis-costumed personas at clubs, competitions and Elvis conferences. Along the way, she developed a rapport with the artists and a sympathetic understanding of this unique subcultures obsessive, almost religious, attachment to The King.
The photographs show them as the mixture of their own self and the self they would like to be; the Elvis inside them manifested outwardly, timelessly, in a photograph. The text accompanying the photos is short, sincere, and often humorous. A female Elvis impersonator talks about how when she appeared on stage, the men came running up to the stage for sweat-drenched scarves and kisses, something that had only been seen in the case of male performers and female fans. Elvis Impersonator Rory Allen shared his story of bringing happiness to a woman with Multiple Sclerosis during another performance. According to Carroll, Elvis tribute artists often lead fairly normal lives with wives, kids and other jobs. Carroll believes that having a natural look of Elvis has little to do with the mystique of the Tribute Artist. What comes across in this book is the dedication of a subculture, the happiness and the artistry that the performance is creating in both the tribute artists and their fans, Carrroll being one of them. Carrolls photographs are displayed in major U.S. museums, many private collections and books. In addition to teaching photography at the both the School of the Art Institute, she also teaches at Columbia College. Her photos of popular culture subjects can be found at www.pattycarroll.com. NOVEMBER 2005
