Reading Respone #3

I liked both of this week's readings, Toni Morrison's The Fisherwoman I found to be thought provoking and introspective about the way we selfishly personalize small interactions with strangers, and Lauren Greenfeilds photography work documenting the Youth of LA was a gritty and candid look at the social lives of mostly preteen to young adults in LA. I don't really have very much to say about The Fisherwoman, It was a good and thoughtful read, but the focus is further away from photography. The article on Greenfield on the other hand I found really interesting. The style documentary style of photography being practiced by Greenfield is most often used to document cultures and events seen as “exotic” or “dying” and dismisses the documentation of cultures and events that are considered “current'', because there is more value placed on such projects by the general public, this isn't to say that they aren't important, but the documentation of all cultures and periods is important. This to me seems to be a happy case of an artist finding a niche for a project which suits them and their artistic style.

I looked through the photo series myself because I was interested and ended up really enjoying it. The entire series feels so euphoric , it does a good job of making the world it’s portraying feel distant and unique. The photos are often blurry or distorted and the framing for many gives a claustrophobic feel, the series overall has a hazy look for me, and again it’s an interesting concept done well which really captures the essence of what it is trying to document.