--- title: Julia Gillard’s American Holidays description: Photographer Julia Gillard’s project American Holidays documents both the conventional and often reinterpreted tradition of holidays in the United States. For more than three years,... canonical: https://time.com/3777575/julia-gillards-american-holidays/ author: Christina Clusiau article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2011-05-30T10:00:44.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T04:41:30.941Z article:section: World og:title: Julia Gillard’s American Holidays og:description: Photographer Julia Gillard’s project American Holidays documents both the conventional and often reinterpreted tradition of holidays in the United States. For more than three years,... og:url: https://time.com/3777575/julia-gillards-american-holidays/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7d921154a3efab2a/69879725f887dce1e0e8b2fc/gillard_02.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: American Holidays og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Julia Gillard’s American Holidays twitter:description: Photographer Julia Gillard’s project American Holidays documents both the conventional and often reinterpreted tradition of holidays in the United States. For more than three years,... twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7d921154a3efab2a/69879725f887dce1e0e8b2fc/gillard_02.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Julia Gillard's American Holidays by [Christina Clusiau](/author/christina-clusiau/) ## Christina Clusiau May 30, 2011 10:00 AM CUT  Couple Eating Corn, Labor Day, New York State Fair, Syracuse, NY Couple Eating Corn, Labor Day, New York State Fair, Syracuse, NYJulia Gillard by [Christina Clusiau](/author/christina-clusiau/) ## Christina Clusiau May 30, 2011 10:00 AM CUT Photographer Julia Gillard’s project _American Holidays_ documents both the conventional and often reinterpreted tradition of holidays in the United States. For more than three years, she has spent each holiday in a different location, documenting Americans as they celebrate.more “Holidays provide a very specific space in which to photograph; they exist in breaks and days off, moments of rest and reflection. The idea is that we will spend this time off celebrating, remembering, and commemorating something or someone is in the past,” she says. Gillard notes that many American holidays have changed focus or in some cases, simply been re-invented. “Labor Day isn’t as much about honoring labor anymore but more about marking the end of summer, about pie and corn on the cob, snow cones and fairgrounds…Memorial Day honors soldiers but often revolves around eating—the tradition of grilling is hard to escape on this day, the unofficial start of summer.” Gillard’s photographs serve as a document to our nation’s current approach to holidays and gatherings. “People want a reason to celebrate…they want to be nostalgic and want to create memories,” she says. “The work for me has been a sociological narrative of American culture and tradition, region and class, ceremony and consumption. Each photograph is meant to contribute to our often ironic collective memory of the country.” _More of Julia Gillard’s work is available on her_ [_website_](http://www.juliagillard.com/ "undefined")_._ American Holidays _is_ [_available through Blurb_](http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/detail/294220 "undefined")_._  Fire Hose Contest, 4th of July, Long Beach, IN Julia Gillard  Couple Eating Corn, Labor Day, New York State Fair, Syracuse, NY Julia Gillard  Woman in Paper Hat, Labor Day, Allentown, PA Julia Gillard  Fireworks, 4th of July, Michigan City, IN Julia Gillard  Mom Reading the Paper, 4th of July, Long Beach, IN Julia Gillard  Ten Steaks, Labor Day, Long Beach, IN Julia Gillard  Anthony and Jessie, Michigan State Fair, Labor Day, Detroit Julia Gillard  Blueberry Pie, Labor Day, Long Beach, IN Julia Gillard  Wrestler, Labor Day, Michigan City, IN Julia Gillard  Jaswell at Work, Labor Day, Detroit, MI Julia Gillard  Abby and her Mother, Seder, Woodmere, New York Julia Gillard  Woman with Fries, Labor Day, New York State Fair, Syracuse, NY Julia Gillard  Tom, Columbus Day Parade, NYC Julia Gillard  Chips, Labor Day, New York State Fair, Syracuse, NY Julia Gillard  Subway Balloons, Columbus Day, NYC Julia Gillard  Couple with Flag, Columbus Day Parade, NYC Julia Gillard  Curtains at Fair, Labor Day, Allentown, PA Julia Gillard  Two Girls on Float, 4th of July Parade, Long Beach, IN Julia Gillard  Man at Derby, 4th of July, Yuma, AZ Julia Gillard ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3777575/julia-gillards-american-holidays/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3777575/julia-gillards-american-holidays/"},"headline":"Julia Gillard's American Holidays","datePublished":"2011-05-30T10:00:44.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T04:41:30.941Z","description":"Photographer Julia Gillard’s project American Holidays documents both the conventional and often reinterpreted tradition of holidays in the United States. For more than three years,...","url":"https://time.com/3777575/julia-gillards-american-holidays/","keywords":["LightBox","fireworks","photography","Holidays","America","Summer","vacation","portraits","Memorial Day","fourth of july","documentary photography","In Progress"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7d921154a3efab2a/69879725f887dce1e0e8b2fc/gillard_02.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Christina Clusiau","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/christina-clusiau/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7d921154a3efab2a/69879725f887dce1e0e8b2fc/gillard_02.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"American Holidays","caption":"Couple Eating Corn, Labor Day, New York State Fair, Syracuse, NY","creditText":"Julia Gillard","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-lightbox/","name":"LightBox"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3777575/julia-gillards-american-holidays/","name":"Julia Gillard's American Holidays"}}]}] ```