“The Cultured Space of Photography” [Reflections on internet article http://ivc.lib.rochester.edu/art-documents-the-politics-of-visibility-in-contemporary-photography/]
Though photographs lack built-in history
Like language does (in ways one barely sees),
There’s ways it folds in if we are aware –
Effect adds mix of good and evil there:Like, photographs as documents we make,
Restrict the frame; but text and captions take
Us to a level neither by themselves
Can ever reach, as we on subject dwell.Of course, that lends itself to “Pretty pix” –
Voice-over documenting “What to fix”;
One can say anything one wants with that;
But Martha Rosler’s ways rise over that.We photograph within a cultured-space
No way beyond that – culture is the place
We human beings make, and call our home;
Sub-sections of a larger world we roam.We “Frame” (select and deselect), then start
To on some picture-project then embark –
Like “Now or later” edits out some parts;
And shifts of forward-back new views impart.A “Civil contract” always is in place –
There’s subject, worker, viewer in this case;
So pictures always say more than is “there”,
Despite best efforts to depict with care.The viewers viewing picture (after fact)
Are in a cultured-space, no doubt of that;
Their economics, politics, and such,
Affect such viewing-public’s cultured touch.’Till now a single camera would take
Successive pictures, many in this case;
Now many cameras, like a covered dome
Take many pictured-views at once with phones.Text pushes readers far beyond the frame,
Connecting global-village views, the same
As “Day in Life” collections on some theme
Can alter what a single picture “means”.Photography as “Language”, unlike text
Which uses language (laden worst to best
With usage from a layered-cultured-past),
Still can’t escape the impact culture casts.Wherever hand of man and woman’s touch
Comes into play, there’s impact – little, much,
And with it good and evil can be found;
For multi-streams of impact flow around.Lord, all this brings to mind “Research-effect”
They speak of – how to minimize, and yet,
All life is one, despite how we object,
And think we act alone to photos get.To me that says the pin of pinwheel’s swirl
Is part of life for all of us boys and girls;
Apart, and yet connected – both are part
Of panoply of options when we start –Our picture-taking enterprise with text,
Alongside other stories coming next,
And viewed by readers in a million homes –
Kaleidoscope’s the world in which we roam.Thanks Lord for this.
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