Art & Authenticy

I huge fan of photography, I loved coming to the ICP to take a look at some pictures.
It was interesting for me to see the wide range of photography out there – from pictures bigger than me in size, taken from another room, to blurry shots, with a bit of a buzz to them, to collages put together to harmonize.

The picture that I enjoyed the most was the one with the “tears” (which were actually condoms). To this day I am not certain as to what I loved about the photo, but I couldn’t help but be drawn to it, and I actually walked back to stare at it a few times.

A favorite of many were the pictures of African women in the beginning of the exhibition. I disagree. I saw nothing good about the pictures, aside from maybe composition. The viewer’s eye was simply fooled by all the vibrant colors. The colors blinded everyone into thinking there was something special about the photo. There wasnt.

Another set of pictures that I really liked was the collection of Shanghai photos, put together to explain the life in the city. It was shoking to see the conditions that people live in. Some families have a kitched, living room, bedroom, and convenience store all in one box-like room. To see what life is really like for some people, in a country that is deemed to be prosperous was really eye-opening.

Overall, I must say that through this exhibit I understood that there arent just two types of photography – portrait and landscape. There is photography that extends into everything, and everything can become art (like the photos of women wearing animal organs showed). Presented in the exhibition were many ideas, concepts, beliefs. Photography was portrayed as a medium of expressing oneself in more than just a creative way.

Oh, and I do not agree that the central theme tying all pictures in was “fashion;” I think a better connection should have been culture, as seen through the eyes of each particular individual.