Two Women

My visit to the ICP was an eye-opening experience. The picture that really affected me was one capture by Zoe Strauss, titled “Two Women”. This picture depicted two women, probably mother and daughter. When I looked closely at the photograph, I saw scars on the mother’s arm, and what looked liked the fading evidence of a black eye on her right eye. Turning towards the daughter, I faintly saw yellow bags of skin under her eyes, which I realized to be the signs of malnutrition and lack of sleep. In other words, these women have been abused. What really struck me about this photograph was that my own mother, and her mother, my grandmother, had also been abused decades ago. My mom would tell me stories about the abuse she and her mother got from my grandfather, and I was never able to imagine what it must have been like. However, looking at this picture of two battered women, I was flooded by emotions; some sadness, but mostly anger. Prior to this momen, I have never been so affected by art, any art, because I was always able to distance myself from it. But not this time. No matter how much I tried, I kept getting pulled into it until I finally let myself be captured by it. Zoe Strauss has done an amazing job with this exhibit.