I took this in Taryn Simon's exhibit 'A Living Man Declared Dead' at the Tate Modern. She's an America photographer who,over a four-year period (2008-11), travelled around the world researching and recording bloodlines and their related stories. The stories are very moving and include sets of portraits of families (some with blank spaces), a description of the work and then a few close ups of relevant people/objects. The subjects include feuding families in Brazil, victims of genocide in Bosnia, the body double of Saddam Hussein’s son Uday, and the living dead in India.
I noticed that her portraits sit low in the frame, with the eyes central, and children are almost off the bottom, in scale with the adults. Not a traditional portrait framing but it gives a vulnerable effect.
Love the people in this. You can go to any gallery anywhere in the word and see these poses. There's one missing though.. the "standing in front of a piece, hands clasped behind back" pose! haha
@hown Ooh - great - thanks for the link - I admit we chanced upon it but it was totally gripping. I would have spent longer but we were running out of steam at the end of our day. She's certainly a brave woman to reach some of the families and she's photographed some amazing people.
And furthermore... It is so refreshing seeing an image of others observing art, rather than images of the art for which the makers gets the kudos. Bravo, Judith Greenwood!
Sounds interesting! Great picture, very nice composition and soft lighting. I always liked your pictures (otherwise I wouldn't follow) but in the more recent ones I see a great improvement in your compositions :-)
Excellent! This shot is wonderful. Like @hown I was totally unfamiliar with Taryn Simon ~ ( thanks for the link, Howard). Your photo of the exhibit is art itself. Really, really well done. It sort of reminds me of a Norman Rockwell painting actually. An absolute fave.
@peggysirk Oooh thanks Peggy - can you talk nicely to your galleries - it was fascinating? I also bought a book called 'Where children sleep' by James Mollinson which uses photographs to explore the advantages and disadvantages (of all types) of birth. Really thought-provoking if you can get hold of a copy.
Rather expertly done in my opinion !