At the International Center of Photography we I saw many photographs and collages by John Wood. John Wood played with photography to send a message to his audience. His collages and pictures were a little controversial and political. I saw one photograph that immediately caught my attention and I knew immediately that this was the photograph I wanted to analyze further and write about. I thought about what the picture represented and what John Wood was trying to say or ask his viewers.

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The photograph I am talking about is the picture depicting the Mai Lai Massacre. When I evaluated the photograph on my own, I noticed that the picture was separated into 6 sections. As you move from the top left corner to the bottom right corner the picture changed from abstract shapes to a vivid image of a group of Vietnamese people who were killed during this massacre. I interpreted this to mean that often one needs to look at the “bigger picture” in order to truly understand the situation. When you look at only one aspect it is sometimes hard to understand the scene and it can often seem abstract (like the top left corner of the picture).

What I did not realize until we discussed the photograph as a group was that photography and art in general is not only about the artists’ expressions or ideas, but is also about the reaction that the art has on it’s audience. A big part of art is interpretation and a full evaluation of a piece of art cannot be done alone.

Patty looked at the same piece of art as I did, and saw a completely different message. From what I understand, Patty read the picture from the bottom right to the top left. By looking at the picture from a different perspective, she came up with a completely new meaning. Someone else in the class said that one of the frames looked like it was taken from a comic strip. All these different views were different than my original interpretation, but added to the meaning of this piece of art. 

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