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Abstract
Since 2003, SFC Graphics in Toledo, Ohio has been transforming snapshots of deployed service personnel into life-sized posters in a quixotic, domestic form of militarization called the Flat Daddy®/Flat Mommy® project. Durable and portable, “Flats” are intended to serve as active placeholders for the absent loved ones, helping to keep the family intact during and despite deployment. Life with a Flat involves daily negotiations of absence and presence, love and sadness, and past and future; in the process, Flats and their families actively contradict many of our instincts about the use, meaning, and place of photography. Analyzing online testimonials from Flat families to map the dynamics that animate their relationships with these oversized photographs, this article traces out the complex experiences of citizenship that Flats facilitate for the families that use and love them. The efficacy of the Flat hinges on the ability and willingness of children and adults alike to suspend disbelief and treat it like a real person. I argue that this serves as preparation for the work of citizenship and the formation of a bond to the nation-state, where imagination and affection bridge the gap between reality and the fantasy of something more.