At the Met, a particular photograph entitled “Heart Shaped Bruise” by Nan Goldin intrigued me. The photograph depicts just that, a heart shaped bruise on the thigh of a faceless woman. It struck me as dark and daring, a photograph that has a story and a meaning attached to it, meant for people to see. Nancy Goldin (1953) is an American photographer who grew up with progressive and liberal parents in Boston, moved to New York after graduating from Tufts University. Nan’s older sister, Barbara, had committed suicide at the age of 18. Nan herself moved out of her house at 13 and first grew an interest for photography at the age of 15, photographing things that would remain her focus for the extent of her career. Her photographs were usually of things outside the lines of what society viewed as safe or acceptable, such as the gay community, transvestites and photographs depicting drug use and sexuality. I believe her work reflects her upbringing, dealing with the suicide of her sister and learning to be liberal and open to things from a young age.

The focus of the photograph seems to be the heart shaped bruise itself, but to me, the lighting is the punctum. Most of Nan’s photography was taken in natural light, but this particular photo uses flash. Due to the flash, we see the bruise more clearly and are drawn to ask questions. Why does she have a bruise? How ironic is it that her bruise is in the shape of a heart? Why is there a photograph of a woman’s bruise? It begs many questions, especially because her dress exposes it and she’s on a bed, making the audience of this photograph wonder what has happened and is happening to her. I am drawn to wonder about this woman and to begin analyzing the multitude of stories that could be inferred from this photograph because the flash so obviously makes the bruise the core of this piece of art.

Meridian, Mississippi

This photo is part of a serious of photographs taken by Stephen Shore, an American photographer who took over 229 prints of a cross-country road-trip he went on. This photo is titled Meridian, Mississippi. Shore titled all of his photographs by the places that they were taken. It gives the viewer a sense of the area that he was in. Now, to the viewer, their idea of Meridian, Mississippi is this young woman standing in front of racks of cigarettes. The studium in this photograph is the story it tells. This woman probably worked at a gas station somewhere in this unknown town of Meridian. Her expression is innocent and sweet, her hair simply done, and her outfit plain. As per the definition of the studium, I assessed Shore’s intentions of the photograph. His belief was that everything he came across was art. I imagine he was stopping off to get gas or possibly some snacks at this gas station, and briefly met this woman. She is, and will now forever be the picture of Meridian, Mississippi.

When it comes to punctum for me, it is not an object of the photo but the way the photo was taken; the flash. The way the flash creates a shine on the boxes of cigarettes, the way it highlights the oil on the woman’s face, and creates a shadow behind her. If you look closely you can also see that the flash gave her some red eye. If you ever have the misfortune of taking a photography class, you’ll learn that flash is a delicate thing. Most professional photographers believe that flash is an easy way to wash out a picture. It’s not a sign of professional well-educated photography to make the flash self-evident. For me though, that’s the beauty of this photo. He’s taking a simple photograph of a simple woman in a simple town and using the simplest form of photography. This photograph is not beautiful, it isn’t well organized nor is it of an intriguing subject. It’s just a photo taken of a once anonymous person in a once anonymous town. I find nothing more beautiful than that.

During our trip to the Met, this photo by Gabriel Orozco, “Knife on Table” immediately caught my attention. For me, what makes this photo interesting is the number of layers it has to it. At first, it appears that the knife is somehow floating in mid-air. However, upon further analysis – particularly of the glare and light distortion in the scene – one can begin to see that the knife is on a glass table. Then, you look back into the background of the picture and try to identify what you see. For me, I immediately saw the green plant-like object on the right side of the photograph, and then began to look at what appears to be discolored tiles. While the relative location of the scene may be difficult to isolate, one may guess that this may be an outdoor dining set, however I believe this is never fully confirmed nor denied based on the evidence in the photograph. The punctum of this photograph for me is the gold reflection on the handle of the knife, that appears to be from some light source. In a photograph featuring mostly muted and dull colors, the gold reflection certainly stands out from the rest of the image.

Nadejda Dimitrova

Professor Calirman

September 23, 2013

The Arts in New York City

This photograph is powerful. It is an untitled gelatin silver print from the Kitchen Table Series, taken in 1990 by American photographer Carrie Mae Weems. Guessing from the title of the series, the two people photographed are at a kitchen table. They are playing cards and having drinks. The man is smoking, his hand captured in the photograph being to his mouth. Interestingly, the woman’s hand is also up to her mouth. I think this might be to show some kind of secrecy in their relationship, or at least in the game they’re playing. You see the woman glaring at the man from the side of her eyes. You also see the smoke from the man’s cigarette in the air, under the bright light. The light creates a lot of hard lighting in the photo, giving it a lot of contrast with deep shadows. Still, your eyes travel up the picture to the softer lighting. This is also due to the vertical lines in the door, leading your eyes upward. You see some pictures on the wall above where the woman is sitting too. These things in the photograph all make up the studium. However, the punctum, which pierces you, is the iconic poster of Malcolm X, among the pictures above the woman. It catches your eye because of its familiarity, and it keeps your eye because of its strength, even behind the smoke. Plus, it not only works in, but is accentuated by the composition of the photo. For one, it seems that Malcolm X is pointing up towards the light in the room. This makes his presence more real, along with the fact that the size of the photograph makes him just about in proportion to the woman. Thus, the photograph seems to be sending a message of black power. I really like this picture in general and I think that it’s the photo in the photo that makes it special.

I also believe that the Malcolm X poster was significant to the subject/photographer, or operator as Roland Barthes would say. This is because Carrie Mae Weems, born in 1953, is an African-American artist who has focused a lot of her work on serious issues that face black people in the United States. So, the Malcolm X poster in the object/photograph tie into that theme, since Malcolm X was a famous black civil rights activist. And with all the elements in the photo put together, Weems made it clear to the spectator that this was an important part of the picture. Christina and I saw this, so we decided that the Malcolm X poster in the photograph was the punctum.

On September 18th, our class visited the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Joyce and I took interest in the photo shown above titled, “My Father Reading the Newspaper”, by Larry Sultan. This photo was taken in 1989. While many photos in the exhibit were quite gloomy in it’s color and lighting, this photo seemed to jump at you with it’s brightness and clearness. You can see the Sun peeking its way into the shot, and its strong affect on the light and dark contrast of the newspaper. Ironically, however much light shines through the glass door, you can’t seem to find the father’s face anywhere. Joyce and I found that the punctum in this photo is intangible. It is the absence of the father’s face in the photo. The focus of the photo, the newspaper, blocks all possibility to see the father’s face. Sultan teases you by showing you a reflection that just barely fails to capture any sign of what the father actually looked like. This is suggestive of a relationship where the father does not pay much attention to the son (Sultan) and where the son does not really know who the father is. Although they are so physically close, a simple newspaper is what it takes to take the father away from Sultan.

Untitled

At the MET on Wednesday, I worked alongside Kayla and Steve. As we walked through the exhibit, this fascinating but mysterious photo caught our attention.  It was taken by Jan Groover in 1980 and has no title.  After examining it for a few seconds, we agreed that the punctum in this photo for us was the hand belonging to the person on the left.  The hand looks to be in motion.  After discussing it for a few minutes, we decided that the hand is most likely pushing away the other hand belonging to the person located on the right.  If you look behind the hands, you will see that there is a person bending down.  It seems as if the person in the background is sad and overcome with despair.  Through our observations and discussion, we came to the conclusion that the studium of this photo is tragedy.  From the motion of the hand and the person bending down in the background, it seems as if the people in the photograph are grieving a loss.  The photo creates an aura of  melancholy through the different details and black and white contrast.  Another observation we came upon is the fact that the faces are hidden.  We found this part interesting and came upon as theory that Jan Groover intended to hide the faces in order to convey the message that the people in this photo can be anyone and that everyone will eventually go through grief in their life.  In the end, we found that this photo was both interesting and meaningful through the concepts displayed from the details.

The photo that Tom and I both chose is named Untitled, 1999 by American artist Robert Gober. I find this one photo to be particularly mystifying and thought-provoking in the sense that it would seem unusual for one to find some sort of drain in the middle of a forest. This raises the question as to why someone would take a picture of this and for what reason or significance. Around the mysterious drain you can clearly see leaves and some twigs which tells you that the location is a forest or wood area of sorts. But the emphasis lies in the drain at the center of the photo. Such an ordinary thing in such a strange place. Why is it there and what does it mean?  More specifically, though, the darkness beneath the drain is what stands out to me the most in contrast to the rest of the photo, which is lighter and more visible, and that is why it is the punctum. The artist, Gober, has also stated that the drain is a ‘motif’ and it metaphorically acts similarly to a traditional painting as: “a window onto another world”.

Jan Groover
American, 1943-2012
Untitled, 1980

At the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Nicholas and Steven were my partners. We looked around for a few minutes, wanting to find a truly interesting photograph, and when we came upon this untitled one from 1980 by Jan Groover, our attention was caught. The emotions in the photo are extremely prominent to the viewer. The studium we can clearly tell, through the postures of the people in the photograph, is an overwhelming feeling of grief.  But, what is causing this grief? A loss of a loved one? Financial troubles? Although we cannot possibly know the true reason for their emotions, we can assume. We also questioned weather the photo is staged or a real event. Who are these people? Does the artist know them? Notice how none of the peoples’ faces are showing. Was this done intentionally? As a group we decided that the hiding of the faces makes the photo and its message more universal. Those three people could be anyone. Therefore, the hiding of the faces can be seen as some sort of universal tragedy that Jan Groover was trying to expose to the public through the photo. The punctum for us is the hand of the woman on the far left. As viewers, our attention was captured by this mysterious woman’s hand. The positioning it is in; half opened, half closed, and in addition to her posture tells a lot about this photo. She is clearly experiencing some form of grief, and like most people, she is wishing to deal with it by herself rather than accepting the comfort of the man on the right. You can tell through his hand that he wants to comfort her, yet her hand is waving him off, telling a lot about her as a person and about the nature of the photo itself. If the hand were opened a little more her action would be much less stern, indicating that she was unsure if she wanted comfort or not. Oppositely, if her hand was closed further her action would seem much more aggressive, as if she was angry with the man, but in the manner that it is we can tell that she simply does not want comfort at the moment. She wants to deal with the situation independently. There are so many things a person could take from this photo depending on the perspective one looks at it through. Overall, it is a photo the catches your attention and once it does, the woman’s hand draws you in, causing you to ask a multitude of questions.

At the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Brittany and I were drawn to Nikki S. Lee’s photograph entitled “The Yuppie Project (2)”. When we first looked at it we saw a variety of items in the picture that looked stereotypical of the 90’s era and we also noticed the dress that Lee was wearing, which looks like a prom dress. After looking at all of this, we finally noticed the punctum, which for the both of us, was the date that was in the lower left side of the picture. This date showed us that the picture was in fact taken in 1998, and also tried to show how the picture was meant to look like a casual and unprofessional picture. This punctum juxtaposed with the gaudy and quite tacky furniture shows off Lee’s style and her mission through “The Yuppie Project.” She wanted to show photographs of real groups of people, in their natural element, and then either take a photograph with them, dressed as one of them or just take a photograph of herself in the culture that she was currently immersing herself in. This date in the lower left screen served as a punctum because it made me question the significance of the date. Was this character going to a special party, or as a “yuppie” (a wealthy young professional) was this just a normal night that she just decided to get dressed up for? This picture is part of a series that was applauded for successfully mimicking the aspects of different cultures in America, and in this picture, Lee successfully shows a “yuppie” that leaves us guessing and makes us wonder where she is heading after this picture was taken.

Dave and I Iooked at this photograph at the Met. Untitled by Robert Gober. The photo is not anything particularly special. This picture could be taken anywhere. There is nothing that sets this drain apart from others. The drain at the center of the photo appears to be located in a forrest. There is no grass around it, just dead leaves and dirt. The black and white works well, and draws your eye to the white circle in the photo. The drain, being the focal point of the picture, acts as the punctum. Although so simple, the drain asks many questions. Where is this drain? Where does it lead to?  Is there more meaning to the drain than what we see? The drain can be a symbol. You can’t tell where it goes. On the other side of the drain can be an entirely different world. The darkness of the inner drain is truly the punctum.

At the Metropolitan Museum of Art Nadejda and I chose the photograph Untitled (Man Smoking) from the Kitchen Table series by Carrie Mae Weems. She was an American born in 1953 and this photograph was taken in 1990. Right away you are drawn to the bright light source overhead of the couple. This actually brought me to the punctum which is being blurred by the smoke, the photograph of Malcolm X. The smoke is similar to a barrier, trying to hide their situation from Malcolm X. It kind of contradicts in a way. Malcolm X was all about equality for African Americans but here they are only with each other and not whites. This photograph shows that even though Malcolm X risked his life to preach his words on equality it basically had little effect. This couple is in a casual environment where they can just relax and enjoy themselves but that is only happening because there are no outsiders. African Americans stuck together because only they knew what truly happened to them in the past. The damage was done so now they can only be themselves around each other and no one else.

Drew and I looked at the photograph labeled Knife on Table by Gabriel Orozco. If one looked at his photographs, one would clearly see he has a style of simplicity. At first glance, all of his pieces do not contain even the slightest amount of complexity. However, it is through this simplicity that he portrays a very unique form of photography. This form is that by which the onlooker will acknowledge every detail of the photograph and focus on each distinct piece of it. In regards to Knife on Table, one clear observation is the visual effect of the knife barely touching the table and somehow floating. This, however, is not what we felt was the punctum of the photo. Drew and I felt it was the gold design at the end of the knife. It, surprisingly enough, stuck out more than the floating effect of the knife. The reason why I felt this was the punctum is because the photograph is not centered and what this gold design does is it creates a focal point. It attracts the eye to that specific point of the photo. In person, it also seemed to glow slightly as if the reflection of Orozco’s camera flash was meant to shine on this gold design and stand out. It also has a distinct color contrast with the color of the knife and even more so with the color of the table. Being that the design and table are so close, this also enhances the punctum, the focal point, and the entire display of the photograph. Even the floor underneath the knife, particularly its grayness and basic color, contrasts with the gold speck on this knife. As one can see, Orozco creates this type of effect of ‘focusing on the little things’ through a very simplistic style of photography.

On September 18th, our class went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Angel and I chose the Jessie at Five, taken by Sally Mann in 1987. A little background about this photo is the characters in this photo is that of Mann’s children. The controversy about this photo is that her photo can be seen as pornography because of the nudity of her children. There were two punctums that we chose from this photo: the bags under the girl’s eyes (middle) and the young girl rubbing her eyes (right). These two details stood out because it meant they have sleep deprivation. The girl in the middle is not particularly happy and the bags under her eyes show that she has not slept well. The girl on the right was rubbing her eyes as if she just awoke up. We feel that the children in the photo were woken at whatever time her parent woke them, regardless in the middle of the night or in the middle of the day. It just struck us that it is pretty sad that they have to be models for Mann and not be able to sleep well.

Nikki S. Lee’s photo (shown above) is part of a series of projects where she immerses herself into different cultures and actually portrays herself as a person from that culture. Here she is portraying a yuppie, which is a slang term for a young middle-class professional (usually white) who works in the city and has a luxurious lifestyle. From her pearl necklace and long dress, you can see that she is portraying a person with some wealth. At first the photo reminded me of my house. From the white walls to the family photographs, it looked like an older middle-class family would live there. It isn’t a modern apartment in the middle of Manhattan, but it seems like a middle-class home. It didn’t really jumped out to me as luxurious or very wealthy, but it could be a young middle-class person just stating out at some professional job. What immediately jumped out to Adam and I as the punctum was the date stamp on the side of the photo. Looking back at all my home videos and photos from when I was a kid those date stamps were always on the side. Nikki Lee is perfectly showing the average middle-class white home here. It interested me so much because of how well she depicted white middle-class Americans. It was as if I was looking at my own living room. Something else I found interesting as I looked at her other photos was that when she was portraying an American American or Latino group, she changed her skin color and really tried to disguise the fact that she was Asian. In this photo, she is blatantly showing that she is asian and not trying to totally disguise herself as a young white professional. Nikki Lee tried really hard to blend into the minority and “non-mainstream” groups, but didn’t really do the same in The Yuppie Project. The only question I have from looking at this photo is why does she try to blend into minority groups and not into the white majority?

At the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Josephine and I looked at a photograph by Sally Mann. It is easy to tell just by looking at the painting that the girl in the center is the focal point. However, the punctum of the picture we felt was the girl to the right rubbing her eye. She caught our attention and pierced our heart. This girl not only provoked a lot of thought for us but also a lot of questions. Why did she look upset? Why did she look so tired? Why did her presence seem so unwanted? By the looks of her and the other girls, it was possible to assume that they were all probably sleep deprived and their state of undress varied. The girl on the right although reasonably dressed seemed the most under decorated on the face while the opposite could be said of the girl in the middle. My heart goes out to the little girl on the right because she looks so miserable. Not only is she in the dark and in the background, she seems so distant from the two other girls. While the two other girls seem to have some connection to the individual behind the camera, the girl on the right is shying away, looking towards the ground. The shadow cast on her face is the darkest and is also the most gloomy. The light symbolizing pure and angelic is not present on the most miserable, the most outcast girl of the group.

A photograph by Sally Mann taken in 1987 of her daughter, Jessie, which produced a lot of critique.