From: Judy Seigel (jseigel@panix.com)
Date: 09/22/03-10:13:24 AM Z
On Mon, 22 Sep 2003 kateb@paradise.net.nz wrote:
> ...Another aspect I think interesting is that the normal reaction to
> difference is to stare, and the normal social inhibition is NOT to stare.
> Witkin gives a chance to really look at difference without causing offence.
> This may sounds shallow but I think is at least a little valid.
>
>
But many of Witkin's most compelling images are pure invention -- nothing
you'd find in "real life" to stare at. He may use corpses, but often in
ways that could be something else, and other things he has entirely
invented. That's not to deny that the straight frontal photograph of a
"freak" has its own power... as witness the ghastly terrible heartbreaking
photograph this year in the newspaper -- of twins cojoined at the head.
The power/horror of that image was about as strong as any I've seen,
grainy & flat as it was. But it wasn't "art."
Judy
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