The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum is currently presenting “Father Country I Do Love You,” an exhibition by photographer Joanne Leonard Simon that explores themes related to American political history through a complex series of photographic works. The show, which has been acquired for the museum’s permanent collection, is based on Simon’s decade-long collaboration with a retired Federal Bureau of Investigation agent.
Simon’s project originated from a 2017 lunch meeting in Maryland with the anonymous FBI agent, whose identity is never explicitly revealed in the exhibition. Over several years, the agent recounted his career, which purportedly spanned key moments from the post-Cold War era through the 2016 presidential election. The dialogue frames the exhibition, linking Simon’s photographic sequences to various episodes described by the agent, who remains a central, though enigmatic, figure.
The exhibition features 42 photographic sequences, mostly presented in color-coded arrangements, designed to function as visual evidence of the agent’s accounts. These include images of an unnamed small-scale cocaine dealer in Washington, D.C., photographed from behind; portraits of Jodie Foster, noting her connection to the FBI through her preparation for the film “The Silence of the Lambs”; and portraits of 36 survivors blinded in the 1998 bombing of the American embassy in Nairobi, Kenya, where the agent served.
Other works incorporate symbolic elements such as McDonald’s French fries set against a backdrop of Communist Party red, a reference to a specific McDonald’s restaurant in Pennsylvania where Donald Trump held an election photo opportunity. The exhibition’s extensive wall texts provide detailed context, referencing everything from the agent’s personal anecdotes and FBI techniques to Trump’s public gestures involving fast-food diplomacy.
The work is presented with the intention of unveiling hidden connections and framing the photographs not merely as art but as documentary evidence. Visitors have been observed photographing the explanatory labels, highlighting the exhibition’s emphasis on textual information as much as visual content.
Speculation about the agent’s real identity has emerged due to biographical parallels found between the figure in the show and Jeffrey Bedford, a former FBI official who served from 1989 to 2016, achieving the rank of unit chief. Attempts to verify these connections have been unsuccessful, but several details—including birthplaces, educational backgrounds, and personal histories—coincide notably with Bedford’s life. The exhibition includes interviews and photographs featuring the agent’s family members and references to a partner killed in the line of duty, details reportedly corroborated by Bedford’s public disclosures.
Toward the conclusion of the show, the retired agent reveals he took a position in campus security at a private women’s school noted for notable alumnae such as Jacqueline Kennedy, identifying the institution as the Holton-Arms School.
While some critics have noted the exhibition’s ambitious scope and moments of photographic strength, others view it as overly self-referential and encumbered by obscure and sometimes extraneous content. The Guggenheim’s commissioning and acquisition of the work signal institutional support, though debates continue regarding the balance between artistic expression and the project’s documentary claims.