Claire Beckett's 'Defense Language' Examines Military Training Simulations

Claire Beckett's monograph 'Defense Language,' published November 2025 by GOST Books, documents her nearly two-decade-long project (2006–2023) photographing simulated Iraqi and Afghan villages on US military bases. The work explores how cultural stereotypes are embedded in pre-deployment training for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Beckett embedded at Fort Drum (New York), Fort Irwin (California), Fort Jackson (South Carolina), Fort Polk (Louisiana), Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center Twentynine Palms (California), and Marine Corps Mountain Warfare Training Center (California). The book pairs photographs of role-players—including military personnel, immigrants from Iraq and Afghanistan, and civilian contractors—with training manuals and language guides purchased on eBay, some dating to the 1960s and 1970s. Beckett's earlier project 'In Training' (2004–2007) focused on young soldiers in Basic Training. She holds a BA in Anthropology from Kenyon College, served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Benin, and earned an MFA in Photography at Mass Art. Her work has been exhibited at the Wadsworth Atheneum, Museum of Fine Arts Boston, Mass MoCA, National Portrait Gallery, and Aperture Foundation, and is held in collections including the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, Nelson-Atkins Museum, and MIT. The book design by Stuart Smith alternates photographic chapters with ephemera sections.