So today I got the dreaded DLR to Canning Town, &from there, made my way to Oxford Circus via the Jubilee&Central lines.
My final destination being the new location of The Photographers Gallery.Our class were to view the 'Deutsche Borse Photography Prize 2009' Exhibition; works from Paul Graham, Tod Papageorge, Taryn Simon, and Emily Jacir.
Paul Graham (1956, UK - nominated for 'a shimmer of possibility') was the first exhibition to greet us. His work is a collection of photographs he has taken from travelling across the United States of America, between 2004&2006. He shot 'every day activities' such as basketball or waiting for a bus.
"nothing much happens but everything shimmers in the flow of life"
- Paul Graham.
The first set of photographs to immediately catch my eye, were of a homeless-looking man clutching some flowers. They were ridiculously powerful. There was no information about this man, you had to make up your own opinion of him by the way he looked in the photograph. This intrigued me further.
I instantly felt sympathy for him, and wanted to give him a big hug. Which is strange because I'm pretty sure if I saw him in the street, face-to-face, &he tried to give me a big hug I would, in return, try to give him a big slap around the face.
Just everything about the series was, to me, dripped in sympathy&wonder. Although, saying that, he didn't look upset or depressed, his facial expressions had so much hope, and even a touch of happiness, or maybe comfort? Like he had accepted his life as it is.
I don't know if the feminism of the pink flowers brought this out of him, but I think they definitely helped. The contrasts between his appearance&the flowers' are so strong; his scruffy, rough, dirty, dark, but harmless exterior, mixed with the flowers' delicate, pretty, girly coloured exterior brings so much feeling to the series. I really enjoy any type of contrast in a photograph, I think it makes the shot so much stronger.
It seems that the flowers were important to him, which i thought was so lovely! Which girl isn't a complete sucker for a guy that loves flowers....&pink flowers at that!
The shots are truly brilliant, I still want to find out the real story behind that gentleman....but knowing me, he'll turn out to be a multi-murderer or something equally as foul.
Hmm.... the personification of poverty through the degraded human subject. Maybe its me but I think the photos do very little to dignify the subject. There's no information about the guy for sure, but in all honesty its more likely to convey "(slightly) mad bloke with a bunch of flowers", rather than "(slightly) eccentric, if somewhat scruffy bloke with a bunch of flowers for the girl/boy of his dreams"
ReplyDeleteAnyway, rant over!!
Wonder what Mr Barthes would make of it all
John
I wasn't implying that the guy's flowers were for a girl/guy of his dreams. i was just saying the photographs touched me because I, personally, am a sucker for pink flowers, so it made me sympathize with him, and they softened his appearance, and I enjoyed the difference/contrast between his&the flowers appearance.
ReplyDelete