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The Bohemian Club is the most prestigious private men’s club. Every year since the 1880’s, presidents, magnate and tycoon gather for a few days in the redwood forest in California, away from prying eyes. What’s happening there remains secret. Are they discussing the world order? Or performing human sacrifices? Over the years, the lack of transparency triggered the public’s imagination. The far left and far right made it their common enemy, and right-wing conspiracy theorist, Alex Jones, his first big hit. In 2000, Jones infiltrated the Club and released a sulphurous documentary denouncing “so-called world leaders secretly engaging in pagan activities”. A giant statue of an owl, at the entrance of the Club’s property, was the strand of evidence that supported his claim.
From then on, Jones’s career has skyrocketed – within a few years, he went from being a radio host in his childhood bedroom in Austin, Texas, to hosting Donald Trump on his show. In his recent book, Parliament of Owls, documentary photographer Jack Latham investigates the making of conspiracies through the example of the Bohemian Club. “When I was initially talking about the project to my publishers, I would describe it as a vacuum of context – nobody knows what’s happening during this event apart from those who are in, and no context is given to the public. The crux of the work is what happens when these kinds of spaces emerge and how do we deal with that as a dilemma”, he explains.
Published by Here Press, the book is keeping with the concept of the project – the bottom part of some of the pages is sealed, forcing the viewer to either unseal them or look into the spreads as if looking through branches, just like Jones did when he broke into Bohemian Grove. “Ultimately it’s a question to the viewer, whether they break in or not; in a very strange way it’s like a performance”, Latham suggests.
On two photographs, a billboard once full of sponsors is suddenly empty, somehow concealing the game of power. Be it from the elite or not, the idea of secrecy runs throughout the entire book. We have Mary Moore, a left-wing protester and prolific activist asking for more public scrutiny, who used to stand outside the entrance of the Club dressed up like the elite, wearing a mask of presidents Nixon, Reagan and Bush. We have the self-named Phantom Patriot who, affected by Jones’ film, crafted a super-hero costume for himself and sneaked into the Club’s property heavily armed, impersonating a modern-day Robin Hood. We have of course the Club itself, as well as Jones and his colleagues, who used tricks and props that Latham exposes in the forms of still-lives, excerpts of conversations that they had while on the field, and pixelated screenshot from their film. And we also have investigative reporter, Jon Ronson, who followed Jones’ attempts to infiltrate the annual gathering at the Bohemian Grove.
Latham didn’t compile a Cluedo of the Club though. He studied what has changed in politics since Jones exposed the Bohemian Club, and how the reluctance of the elite to engage with the public is to blame for the rise of misinformation. “The thing that has changed in contemporary politics is that people like Alex Jones are now influencing very powerful people, Donald Trump being the main one”, he says. The Phantom Patriot is another one. Members of the Club may say that they “are still scratching their heads” about the incident but in some ways they are as responsible as Jones for the Phantom’s delirious intrusion. By hiding the truth, they undermine the foundations of democracy. “But Alex Jones now is probably doing more damage to society than this Club has, to be honest”, Latham deplores.
“The owls are not what they seem”, reads an inscription on a movie theatre, as a confirmation. Why is it that we are so drawn to conspiracy theories? “I do think that we as a society are drawn to the mystery of the unknown and we are trying in some way or another to create answers for that. It’s just people trying to understand what is going on around them, trying to find truth in a world where the truth is harder and harder to quantify”, Latham offers. « The problem is that nobody talks to anybody from the other side of politics anymore. And that’s one of the things I’m most proud of about the book, that everyone’s opinions are represented quite fairly. I think the book is really balanced in terms of politics and even though I disagree with some, I think of it in a kind of utilitarian way”.
The last photograph in the book – the only one in color – depicts Latham’s hometown’s lake filled with birds that I can’t help and see as an evocation of the Swan Lake. After all, aren’t both pieces about transcending social segregation and the deceptiveness of perception?
– reviewed for Photomonitor by Laurence Cornet
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