In my photography, one of the biggest struggles I’ve had over the years has been associating a sense of identity in photographs. I tried to give others a glimpse into others lives that were otherwise dismissed or looked down on. Identity has always been the base of my message that I want others to understand more fully after they look at my work. When you take a picture of someone, somewhere between the lens the actual self, an extreme amount of vulnerability takes place; you are essentially revealing part of your identity. Throughout the exhibit, you are forced by the somewhat simplistic, straightforward approaches, creative displays, and wide range of approach to the subject, to look deeper at the person in the photograph.
I found it interesting to see how each artist approached the subject of identity differently. David Hockney created identity by arranging the images in a collage that ultimately showed one photograph, whereas Alec Soth travels around the country exposing the identities of people that are otherwise overlooked. The person that I connected with the most was Alec Soth’s work for that sole reason. The way he scoped an audience was by taking five years to gather a collection of photographs that he felt present a side of America that was otherwise neglected. He drove 2,000 miles along the Mississippi River to find the subjects that he was photographing. By doing this, he creates a wide range of people that can relate and view his work as an audience. Knowing that Alec Soth was born and raised in Minneapolis, Minnesota, it’s clear to see his inspiration for following the less traveled roads in the United States. It was also Robert Frank’s The Americans, a profile of the country from the mid-1950’s that inspired him to do something similar. The attitude that’s expressed in the collection of photographs on display at the Haggrety is simplistic at first glance, but easily relatable. The people and scenes in the photographs are all similar to people/things that are in our lives, therefore connecting us and drawing the audience into his work. Alec Soth’s mission was to capture these seemingly mediocre events and show others scenes along the Mississippi that are neglected to the rest of America. His mission was to expose the audience to a side of that others overlook. As far as Soth measuring success, there was no cookie cutter answer within the exhibit to help me determine it. But, you know that you’ve made it as an artist when your work is hanging in a museum-it means you’ve done something right. The thing I found most inspiring about Soth’s work though, was the quote that Soth related the work to himself.
“For me, photography is much about the way I respond to the subject as it is about the subject itself. My portraits don’t reveal all that much about the people I’m photographing. I often say that what I’m really photographing is the space between myself and the subject.”
