Walking the Walker

I went to the Walker Art Center today--perhaps to see the exhibit but mostly for inspiration. It was an interesting visit...the primary exhibit was essentially about photography (and photographers) as voyeurs. It was interesting, and one that challenged me beyond what the the curators probably imagined. Essentially it was about how the photographer is/was looking AT people from the outside. Voyeurs, by any other word. It had another impact because the other "show" was Nan Goldin's show on sexual dependency, which included a very intense show that looked inward, on the photographer. She looks at the hardest, most brutal aspects of what a relationship could be.

What is interesting to me is not how challenging Nan Goldin's relationships were but rather, the different points of view of well, life. Goldin's view looks internally on her life. The other photos in the exhibit look externally on other peoples' lives. They are street photos, 35mm photos with a 35mm lens, taken of people who are unaware of the camera, or even photos from surveillance cameras. Nan's photos were internal photos of her life.

I am challenged, I guess, about my photos. Do I look inward, or outward? I think that I am pretty good at looking outward, at other peoples' lives. That is not bad, but what am I missing by simply pointing my lens away from me and not back at my life? That is a journalist's perspective, though you might argue that the photographer's life does influence HOW they look at other's lives. Still, it is an interesting question about how much the photographer needs to look inward, or much they need to or should. Look up Nan Goldin--do we need that much self-disclosure or introspection? Do we need that much at ourselves before we are look at others? At the least, I loved the museum. I even liked the bathroom, and loved the exhibit that people chose.