The Alienated Photographer

2011-12-06T15:19:00.000-08:00

           This photograph is one of the last in the book and I am prompted by a comment by an editor at WW Norton to explain it. This editor, after saying he wanted to publish the book, expressed his fear that the photographs put demands upon the reader. He did not publish the book.
           Most readers may be too young to be aware of the history behind this photograph. It shows a group of well dressed diners feasting in front of Picasso's Guernica. This is what Wikipedia says about the painting:

             Guernica is a painting by Pablo Picasso. It was created in response to the bombing of Guernica, Basque Country, by German and Italian warplanes at the behest of the Spanish Nationalist forces, on 26 April 1937, during the Spanish Civil War. The Spanish Republican government commissioned Picasso to create a large mural for the Spanish display at the Paris International Exposition at the 1937 World's Fair in Paris.
              Guernica shows the tragedies of war and the suffering it inflicts upon individuals, particularly innocent civilians. This work has gained a monumental status, becoming a perpetual reminder of the tragedies of war, an anti-war symbol, and an embodiment of peace. On completion Guernica was displayed around the world in a brief tour, becoming famous and widely acclaimed. This tour helped bring the Spanish Civil War to the world's attention

            And if the painting represents the horror of the air attack, the indifference of the well-dressed diners to the painting behind them represent the American policy of neutrality to the plea for assistance from the Spanish government. Our policy of non-intervention allowed Franco to defeat the Spanish democracy and install his dictatorship which lasted for decades.

             It was at a book signing at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, that I got to explain another of my photographs from the book.

　　　 "This photograph is really an illustration of property rights." I said, "Dogs have a particular relationship with fire hydrants, and this large dog has planted himself there, daring any other dog to even contemplate pissing on HIS hydrant."

             Another photograph is worth mentioning here, but only because one reviewer referred to it as being of a "pugnacious child".



            When I photographed white kids, they typically clowned around mugging the camera. This is a black kid facing a white photographer and it was as much a political statement as the photograph of the diners in front of Picasso's Guernica.
              Maybe the dedication in the book should be seen as a clue. "For America's young, for they will suffer the consequences or reap the rewards."
              I write in the Afterword that this is a book and not a portfolio. Meanings in books are not always immediately clear. Sometimes it takes time to gather the implications of all the words, or in this case the photographs, to understand the full sense of what the book is about.

     Click on http://twopennypressny.com/ to see the frontispiece and the opening spreads (16 photographs) in the book.

simpsonkal

The Alienated Photographer