Neptune (detail); Bailey Fountain
Neptune (Detail) Bailey Fountain
by Richard Lord
Cibachrome Photograph
4th Floor of the Library
Richard Lord is known for capturing compassionate photographs of the beauty, strength, and suffering of people in over 72 Third World countries. In this piece, Lord took a photograph of the Neptune Bailey Fountain in Brooklyn’s Grand Army Plaza. When we first viewed this photograph, we saw Neptune suffering. Since we had never seen the statue before and because Lord had taken a picture of only part of the statue, we were easily cajoled into seeing his interpretation. Lord focuses on the face of Neptune, the water that sprouts from the fountain covers his body in what appears to be tears. Neptune’s facial expression is clearly one of agony, and his exposed body portrays his powerful physique. Yet when we examined a photograph of the entire fountain, it appeared as though Neptune was sighing after a long day at work.
–Selena Vargas, Heba Fakir, Jensine Sajan
