Benjamin Rasmussen shot this portrait as part of his ongoing project called V. It focuses on periods in the American legal system that had historically restricted eligible naturalization to “white persons.”

Exploring this visually led Rasmussen to photograph the very American concept of beauty pageants. He sought communities where people had sued the government in order to claim white identity and become naturalized in the United States. Thirteen women in different locations around the country posed for him during or after sunset.

Miss Korea USA 2016 Jasmine Cho. “Whatever their precise shade of color may be defined to be, they are confessedly not white persons either in fact or in accordance with common understanding.” — The Petition of Easurk Emsen Charr (1921)

Miss Arab USA Baian Taleb. “Then, what is white?” — Ex Parte Shahid (1915)

Miss Vietnam California 2016, Minh Tranle.

Miss Asia USA Juri Watanabe.

Logistics and access were aided by Vogue, who had Rasmussen contribute his photographs to their “American Women” project. Standing on the edge of a cliff in Palos Verdes Estates, California, is Miss Asia USA 2016, Juri Watanabe, a Japanese-Korean-American woman. “It was the last setup of the our day and the very last minutes of light,” says Rasmussen, who was shooting on a 4 x 5 camera and “having to make half-second exposures with a razor-thin plane of focus while terrified that something would screw up.” Nothing did.

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