Dru Hetrick’s American Colors series – utilizes the artist’s interest in older film cameras to study how the physical elements of an American era she never experienced before is connected to the America we experience today. When Dru thinks of ‘Americana’, she think of bright blues, colorful neon, and fresh white picket fences in front of newly painted houses. But in the context of today, where architectural materials favor more minimalist metal, concrete and marble, these older colors take on new meaning much like the dreams of the people and country who made them.

The creation and breakdown of the American Dream over the course of the twentieth century and beyond is fascinating to Dru and she hopes to explore physical remnants of this theme through this series. Some images reveal a golden age long gone – relics of the bright commercial age of the ‘50s and ‘60s – while others gain a new identity within the context of a new time. Dru acknowledges she will never get to live within the era in which many of the subjects of her photos were made new, so what’s left for her to experience is their decay – their fading colors.

Dru Hetrick is an analog film photographer originally from NYC and currently based in Boston, MA. Hetrick delved into the medium through personal documentation, travel, university study at Emerson College, and music photography. Upon discovering her favorite film format – 6x6 120mm – she started projects that studied the color of the urban landscape around her, while also carrying cameras with her to serve as a diary of the subtler beauties of her daily life. Dru is continually adding to her American Colors and Snapshots series.

To see more of her work visit her site: www.druhetrick.com