Living Through Color - Denise

"Photographs really are experiences captured, and the camera is the ideal arm of consciousness in its acquisitive mood." - Susan Sontag, On Photography 

I was reminded recently that I can live vicariously through other people's photos. I was flipping through Jimmy Chin's photography book There and Back and remembered how powerful photographs can be. He published beautiful photos of snowy mountain climbs. His photos are incredible and I'm glad that he captured and shared his experiences so I can experience them too. It also brought up memories of my interactions with nature like hiking in Canada and upstate NY. 

It's really amazing that the camera not only captures the visual image but it captures our memories and emotions within that moment. 

"To photograph is to appropriate the thing photographed. It means putting oneself into a certain relation to the world that feels like knowledge-- and therefore, like power." 

- Susan Sontag, On Photography 

I agree with the statement that photographs give us knowledge and power. Jimmy Chin photographs mountains from amazing heights and perspectives an average person would never see. Photojournalists bring light to issues we're not aware of or stories we hear about but never see.

"Weem's black-and-white photographs are like mirrors, each reflecting a collective experience: how selfhood shifts through passage of time; the sudden distance between people, both passable and impassable; the roles that women accumulate and oscillate between; how life emanates from the small space we occupy in the world." - Jacqui Palumbo, Revisiting Carrie Mae Weem's Landmark "Kitchen Table Series"

This is a perfect description of Weem's "Kitchen Table Series." It really does feel like you're looking into a mirror when you see her photographs. I feel like I can relate to a lot of the experiences described. Although the concepts are quite heavy, I feel reassured that these are collective experiences. It's nice knowing that I'm not the only one digging deep trying to understand these parts of me. 

"'Everyone can relate to this work,' Sann said. 'It’s not just Black women; it’s white women, Asian women. Men can see the women in their lives—memories from their childhood or scenes from their marriage or their family life. It’s so universal and yet representation like this is so rare.'"  

- Jacqui Palumbo, Revisiting Carrie Mae Weem's Landmark "Kitchen Table Series"

It's really amazing how Weem's explores really specific concepts within the "Kitchen Table Series" which brings people of all different backgrounds together. It is very rare and powerful to see an artist appeal to so many groups. 

Living Through Color, Denise Abadies, 2023

(Recreation of "Untitled" from Colored People, Carrie Mae Weems, 1989-1990)