In this frenzied presidential election year, a timely exhibition has arrived at the High Museum. "Young Americans," photographs by Atlanta-based photographer Sheila Pree Bright, presents color portraits of Generation Y, giving those 18-to-25 year olds voice and a new presence by asking them to pose with the American flag.

The project coincides with two anniversaries touching our community — 40 years since the assassination of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and 50 years since the U.S. publication of Robert Frank's groundbreaking photographic essay, "The Americans."

Sheila Pree Bright (ENLARGE)
The portrait Omar Rodriguez is one of 28 photographs in Sheila Pree Bright's exhibition, 'Young Americans.' Bright asked her subjects to pose as they wished with the American flag.
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REVIEW "Young Americans" Through Aug. 10. 10-5 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays; 10-8 p.m. Thursdays; 12 noon-5 p.m. Sundays. High Museum of Art. 1280 Peachtree St. 404-733-4444; www.high.org Bottom line: Long appreciated in Atlanta as an emerging photographer, Sheila Pree Bright comes of age with a solid show of new work at the High. RELATED LINKS: • Photos: How 'Young Americans' see themselves • Life and death of Martin Luther King Jr. • Find other art exhibits

The malaise of the 1950s and the tumultuous decade of civil rights protests that followed are present in this exhibition insofar as its inhabitants represent a generation benefiting from the social changes wrought in earlier times.

Twenty-eight images explosively pack the High's Works on Paper galleries. They range from mural-size, full-length portraits to looming head shots and smaller prints, creating a somewhat cacophonous installation. The flag features prominently and provocatively throughout, weaving in and out of images, its various guises reflecting the broadly diverse attitudes of the sitters.

Set against a white studio background, the large format color images focus on body language and descriptive details. Phoebe Augustine, 23, describes herself as American of Costa Rican and Irish descent. Crouched, with the crumpled flag atop her bent head, she shoulders the flag as Atlas assuming the weight of the world.

The exhibit's most interesting images are those which defy concrete interpretation, where it's unclear whether American citizenship is uplifting or compromising. In one, Omar Rodriguez bends his head to kiss the corner of the flag, which cascades down the front of the image, but his gesture might be understood negatively, that he's stuffing the flag into his mouth.

Some images appear with texts written by the subjects during their photo sessions. Bright had each record his or her impressions of being American as a means of creating what she calls "self-constructed" portraits, encouraging the sitter's participation while she assumes a quieter role in the creative process.

What began for Bright in 2006 as a query of how young Americans felt about their citizenship blossomed into a complex series of images which, like the best art, raises as many questions as it resolves. Photographically, Bright assumed great challenges with this project. Working with a large-format camera in a studio setting with time constraints, unknown subjects and a polarizing topic created the need for great control.

Historically, she's modeled the work somewhat upon Richard Avedon's iconic black-and-white portraits from the American West. Avedon, the great fashion portraitist, brought glamour to the studio exchange between model and photographer working together in a neutral white space.

In Bright's color images, the stark studio background and lighting can create a commercial feel, as if American values are being displayed in a shop window. When separated from the sitter's texts, viewers take stock of the image at face value.

In some cases, we are taken in by the rich narrative details of youth culture in this work, above and beyond the underlying questions of American-ness. We consume information in these pleasing portraits often without clues to the artist's point of view, which always remains part of the portrait sitting "contract."