The True Meaning of Pictures
While watching Jennifer Baichwal’s True Meaning of Pictures, my initial reaction to these photos compared mostly to Vicki Goldberg’s opinion of Shelby Lee Adams’s photography work. She sees his photographs as merely art; Shelby captures his subjects through an artistic point of view. Adams was trying to depict to his audience that there is a life beyond the stereotypes that exist about the people of Appalachia. His photos are personal and challenge certain perspectives viewers have about the Appalachian mountain people, especially since some of the subjects are his relatives and friends. Technical aspects such as lighting and framing also add a deeper meaning to these documentary style photographs.
Although I whole-heartedly agree with Vicki Goldberg, I can definitely see how Shelby Lee Adams’s photos can be problematic. For example, Dwight Billings argues that the story behind a photograph is open to the viewers. This is true considering the fact that we can never truly know an artist’s intentions unless he or she comes out and states it. This aspect of art keeps it creative and imaginative for both the artist and the audience, but it can also unintentionally perpetuate stereotypes. The photos in this series show residents of Appalachia in their natural habitat, including damaged screen doors and porches, large families, and pickup trucks. To those without an artistic mindset, these photos can exist solely as representations of the impoverished life of a “hillbilly.”
My opinions are somewhat informed by my own experiences. As someone who has dabbled in photography here-and-there, I believe that true art is meant to provoke different emotions and in some cases dissenting opinions. Making a piece controversial sparks viewers’ attention. Any form of art should encourage its audience to ponder the subject at hand. Furthermore, having been exposed to low-income communities, I have been raised to understand different classes of people and to not judge based on stereotypes.
This is a photograph I took in southern Illinois in a small town called Vienna. It displays an elderly couple in front of a barn on their ranch. One perspective this photo may evoke could be that this couple is very simple and old-fashioned. The antique wheel perhaps symbolizes the lack of current technology that exists in the subjects’ lives. On the other hand, this photo can also represent all that this couple has worked for in life. Their simple stances and facial expressions, particularly the male’s, show the pride they have in this establishment. The ranch has taken years and years to be what it stands as at this single moment.
