“The alarm goes off at 5:30am. I lift my head off the pillow and, in that half asleep/half awake state of consciousness, my immediate reaction is to ask myself what hotel, what city and what campaign am I waking up in. As my senses sharpen, I start to realize that I'm at home, in my own bed and the only thing I have to advance is the dog's morning walk.
On this warm spring morning, the alarm tolls not for me, but for Meryl. There is an early morning campaign event at a senior's center in Peterborough and she wants to get there in time to photograph the staff setting the stage for the candidate's appearance. Dean speaking to seniors, Kerry making his pitch to college students, Edwards giving the keynote speech at a spaghetti dinner for Keene Dems, Graham playing checkers with voters at Historic Robie's General Store, Gephardt meeting and greeting old friends at a Manchester house party, (ah, the ubiquitous NH house parties!), Lieberman delivering a pot of coffee to firemen at the station house – the fundamental events in retail campaigning. These countless venues provide the settings for one of the most basic and essential functions in a direct democracy – knowing the essence of the candidate…”
—From the book's introductory text by Will Kanteres
MERYL LEVIN is a social documentary photographer whose work over the last 20 years has focused mainly on issues of health care and social welfare. Her photographic essays have been published worldwide and she has received many grants in support of her work. Love and politics have brought her from NYC to New Hampshire. She has taught at the School of Visual Arts and is currently an adjunct professor at Southern New Hampshire University. She published her first monograph, Anatomy of Anatomy in 2001.
WILL KANTERES is a New Hampshire native, and a second generation political activist. Will has been actively involved in Presidential and local politics for nearly 25 years. He was the NH co-chair of Gov. Jerry Brown's 1980 Presidential campaign and worked on the national staffs of Senator Gary Hart's 1984 & 1988 campaigns and Senator Bob Kerrey's 1992 campaign. He has served on the Board of Share Our Strengh, a national child hunger relief organization, since it began in the mid-1980s.
For further information about
PRIMARILY NEW HAMPSHIRE, please contact:
MERYL LEVIN & WILL KANTERES
info@PrimarilyNewHampshire.com
603.668.6269
