Visit to the International Center of Photography

I found a lot of amazing photographs at ICP. There was so much raw human emotion showed in many photographs, but one that really caught my eye was a Lewis Hine photograph called “Dying Consumptive in a Tenement Entirely Below Street Level.” I spent a long time looking at this photograph. The title gives a lot more meaning to the photograph himself, because you wouldn’t know that this man was dying, or that the tenement was below street level if Hine had not given us this information.

I found this picture so captivating because of its darkness with small highlights of light, such as the window above his head and the candle on the small table beside him. The expression on his face is mysterious. He looks exhausted, clearly because he is very sick, but he also looks like his mind is not really there–that he’s being taken somewhere else and we as the viewers can only wonder what’s going on in his mind. There is so much I wonder about this man and his life–what his job is, if he has a family, where exactly he lives…this picture says nothing about these things but also says so much. He looks like his life is filled with darkness, because the photo feels so glum and dirty. Knowing the awful conditions of tenement buildings during this time just adds to the struggles of this man’s life.

I think this photo really compelled me mostly because of its title. If it had been called “Man in Tenement,” I may have looked past it without a second thought. But to know that he may have died the day after this was taken is really chilling and gives it a much stronger impact. Just knowing these details about the photo makes it much more meaningful and real. I felt really sad for this man, even though he is obviously not alive today. The fact that it’s a photograph, and not a painting, makes it feel eternal.