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Reading Response 1# : JR
I enjoy how visually intimidating the works of JR are. Not in the sense that they strike fear but the closeness and involvement with the subject are very striking. It's great to see how seriously he's taking photography to the point that it has clearly become art. It is no longer about the subject itself, instead, it asks the viewer to consider the context of the photo, the photographer, and the subject. Similar to how artists have their own context or lack thereof to deliver the intended motif. These photos have meaning but the feeling that it creates in people I doubt could ever be shared. I'm called to believe that the sheer size of the installations is enough to capture that territorial feeling he mentions. However, to somehow capture these subjects in a way that any emotion could be implied, JR harnesses these contexts for the meaning to be as grandiose as the scale of the print itself. The meaning doesn't have to be slapped on top of the image because its scale lets you know the importance. It forces you to stare and reevaluate/reconstruct these "simple" images. I feel like it's akin to minimalist art. The act of invoking any kind of emotion in you makes it art itself. Its goal is to occupy your headspace, these photos force themselves into yours. It creates a connection. A connection that is likely different for all that come into contact with it. For him to go on to create the Inside Out Project, I think it could have a positive impact on humanity as a whole. To make the same connections with each other, and still want to understand more
"Actually, the fact that art cannot change things, makes it a neutral place for exchanges and discussion."
“...this is not a social or political project. It is first of all an artistic one, which is why I am not a spokesperson for the youth of Clichy, so I don’t search to change things in that way, but it is really a project we did together. I am very happy that in fact, through these artworks, the image of these youngsters change.”
"To change the way you see things is already to change things themselves."
"Inside Out also performs it own urban speech act, whereby the mise-en-scène of the image—its literal production mounted live in city space—utters the invisible visible: the forgotten present. It is territorial without necessarily taking up physical space."
Reading Response #2
The spirit of the American settlers exists in people who live in mining/desert towns. Smaller communities, a natural surrounding landscape, dust fills the air from the breeze because every road isn't paved but produced by its citizens' marching feet. These towns have a rough gritty personalities, but the people that reside in them are still people. They've inherited this land and the personality that comes with it. Schutmaat's work reminded me of migrant portraits. The rawness of the shot can be felt. If these subjects were photographed in a lightbox, they would come off as having some kind of historical importance. A politician, an activist, or maybe even a photographer themselves but these locations provide that same feeling of significance. All of his landscape photos could be "the site of the first... " and no one would question them. The same goes for Adam's work around desert-like conditions containing modern suburbia these places are empty even while filled with occupants and history. The photographer can wander through almost as if a spirit. A piece of the abstract stuck with me as it summed up both bodies of work very well. It read, "...these apparent non-spaces are transformed into a new architecture by means of man ́s intervention..." The same could be reflected on to the person behind the camera intervening in this place so "away" from everything else. There are people everywhere not just in major cities, or what's portrayed on TV. I know this comes off as a well-known fact but I think we'd all be surprised how many communities like these dot the US that we collectively will not stumble upon without intention. And once a photographer has the intention to do something the feelings that are discovered along the way, typically defy their goals in the first place.