Trigger warning

Sep. 15—In arguably the most provocative image in photographer Jeff Corwin's show Guns in America, the horror hits in waves: splattered blood dripping down a classroom wall; a handgun resting precariously on a student's chair; the stately U.S. flag standing rigid in observation of recent carnage, if not endorsement of it.

Less obvious is the fact that the clock atop the image is positioned at nearly midnight, mirroring the Doomsday Clock. That clock reflects the likelihood of human-caused global catastrophe, according to members of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, and in January, the clock was moved to 90 seconds to midnight as a result of concerns about Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Guns in America, which runs through October 5 at Step Up Gallery at Mesa Public Library in Los Alamos, has appeared previously in Montana, Illinois, and Finland, Corwin says. The fact that his exhibition has atomic elements in the Atomic City is a coincidence.

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Guns in America

10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays; 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Fridays; and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturdays, through October 5

Step Up Gallery, Mesa Public Library, 2400 Central Avenue, Los Alamos

stepupgallery.org/current-exhibit

Another synchronicity, he says: the fact that it's running concurrently to the release of the film Oppenheimer, which might be driving an increase in visitation to Los Alamos by tourists who aren't expecting to encounter a message of nonviolence. While the images can be tough to view, Corwin expects they'll resonate with most people.

"I think a great majority of the country understands this issue," Corwin says of the need to restrict access to personal firearms. "Even gun owners understand this issue, and they don't think that an 18-year-old should be able to walk into a gun store and buy a military weapon. The fact that this makes so much sense and yet it doesn't change is just mind-boggling to me."

The hung works in Guns in America are untitled, Corwin says, to avoid affecting viewers' interpretations. Guns in America #5 shows an Uncle Sam figurine pointing a gun, a fake wallet containing real money at his side. Behind the figurine, streaks of blood run vertically through a copy of the U.S. Constitution. Guns in America #33 depicts a marionette holding a miniature gun, an upside-down U.S. flag in the background.

In Guns in America #13, a doll sits in front of a white picket fence, the top of its head cut off. A handgun rests inside the head; the words "Remington Arms" are written in the sky above. Untitled No. 8 shows a handgun being deposited in a ballot box.

Corwin says he was renting a studio on Pioneer Square in downtown Seattle, unsure of what direction to take with his art, when the Sandy Hook Elementary School mass shooting sent shockwaves from Connecticut in 2012. That shooting left 28 people dead, many of them 6 or 7 years old.

"It was just heartbreaking to me," he says. "I have a son who was young at that time. I was petrified to take him to school. If I could have gone in and sat with him the whole time, I probably would have done that."

For his project, Corwin experimented with old guns that his late father had left behind. At first, he wasn't thinking the anti-guns theme would necessarily congeal into a show.

"Then more ideas just started coming in," he says. "And of course, in this country, all you have to do is turn on the TV news, and there's material."

Corwin, a noted commercial and landscape photographer, has attended receptions for Guns in America, including on August 24 in Los Alamos. He says he's often asked if he supports the Second Amendment, which states that individuals have the right to bear arms. He says that at first, he would dodge the question, as he wasn't sure of the answer. He's now unequivocally opposed.

"Certain people adamantly believe that the Second Amendment is sacred ground, and it just can't be changed," Corwin says. "Any time anyone says that to me, my answer is, a lot of things were considered sacred in the Constitution. I mean, African Americans aren't owned by anybody anymore. Women can vote. I can drink at night. All of these things were sacred things in the Constitution that were amended. That's the key word."

Step Up Gallery manager Diane Stoffel says Corwin inquired last year about having his exhibition featured in Los Alamos. He sent her about 10 images.

"Once I got over the colors and guns, I started to open my mind to meaning and message," she says via email. "It was clear that interpretation was my responsibility. That was OK with me. I hate being hit over the head with a static message."

When the prints arrived for the show, Stoffel says, she again was struck by the colors, as well as the sheer number of featured guns of various sizes.

"So many guns," she says. "So much of the America we have all come to know. Their message is wordless, but so much more meaningful than the years of calculated rhetoric that my ears have cached."

Corwin lives in Cardwell, Montana, an unincorporated town of about 50 people just south of Interstate 90, about halfway between Butte and Bozeman. He says he lived in Santa Fe briefly years ago — just long enough to become familiar with Los Alamos well before he visited for the reception in August.

Corwin says he enjoys interactions at receptions — including those with people who disagree with him. He says a Montana man who identified himself as a Republican asked if Corwin could ever see himself supporting a GOP candidate, given his views on guns.

For a long time, Corwin says, he considered Mitt Romney to be the answer. He was stunned to later find out Romney is the U.S. Senate's biggest recipient of National Rifle Association funds, by a good measure. Corwin learned that support for maintaining the status quo with guns can come from unexpected sources.

While another man in Montana became upset about the exhibition and called the host museum repeatedly, such reactions have been the exception, Corwin says.

"It does set people off, but I have to say, the majority of the reaction to this stuff has been really positive, which has pleased me to no end."