Freedom Fried

I couldn't think of anything else clever to play off of Micheal's last name (although I am aware its not pronounced fried as in my favorite way to prepare chicken).



Anyway, the biggest idea that stuck with me throughout the weekend after reading Introduction and three beginnings as well as listening to Walead Beshty was a reminder about a photograph being an object. I have also started thinking about the words we use to describe photographs and we use the word image a lot. But Walead Beshty reminded me that image is not a physical thing, or an object. Image is a reflection of something, an idea of what something looks like or what it is associated with. Although, I suppose in a sense image is something that exists within a photograph, and a photograph can obtain for the viewer an image of a person, place, ect. (I need to think about this one a little more)




The reading, as everyone else who has posted already states, is the introduction to Micheal Fried's Why Photography Matters As Art As Never Before as well as chapter 1 three beginnings. The intro describes Frieds background and his relationship to photography. The three beginnings dissect the modes of thought that structure the way the book was written. The first beginning uses connections between Suigimoto's theater photographs, Cindy Shermans film stills, and Jeff Walls movie audience to discuss ideas about viewing distance, theatricality, and finally relating back to the importance of considering the work made by other artists as a way of understanding and placing meaning on your own or another artists work. This is brought on by Fried's observation of Suigimoto's lack of describing his work within any frame of connection to the work done by other photographers. The second beginning revolves around the period when photography starts being considered "Art" photography which is marked by a larger scale of presentation for photography and to be on the wall, framed, in an attempt to be viewed by the traditional way spectators viewed paintings. The third and final beginning is exemplified by three texts. In extreme summary the first boils down to a discussion about absorption (of subject and viewer), and truthfulness. The second text is a tale involving voyeurism and that what is changed once viewed. Lastly, words of Susan Sontag provide ideas about photography's abilities and inabilities of showing war. Its a back and forth between showing something horrific and then the viewer being passive of proactive. In which case, the contemporary display of loss is usually dealt with by an active mental response and a passive physical one.