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Thread: Chris Jordan's Katrina work

  1. #11

    Join Date
    Dec 2004
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    Chris Jordan's Katrina work

    "I'll agree that photography has a well established tradition of this - but as photojournalism (which is where I place Matthew Brady and his mates) not as art.

    When I think of art photography, I think along the lines of Stieglitz, Steichen, Weston, Adams (yes, Adams), Bourke-White, Cunningham, Karsh, and countless others. Even Steichen's fashion years weren't what I'd call photojournalism. "

    That seems like a rather narrow view of both art and art photography.

    There's plenty of art that looked at such things as well - Goya and Picasso come to mind, and also the likes of Grunewald as well as those who produced those wonderfully graphic portrayals of hell.

  2. #12

    Join Date
    Oct 2003
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    Chris Jordan's Katrina work

    That is masterful use of color, and I love some of the compositions.
    Chris, bravo!
    Bruce, saying first and foremost that I respect your point of view, I see art as espression.
    It is not a case that the best art has sprung in times when the social, economical and human condition were at their lowest.
    Again, Chris, your works speaks a thousand words.
    www.dfoschisite.com

  3. #13

    Join Date
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    Chris Jordan's Katrina work

    Wonderful stuff.

    Katrina is still too fresh in the memory to see these as anything other than Katrina documentary shots. As Katrina documentary shots it makes sense to concentrate on the devastation. The touchy-feely news programs like to show us the one plucky survivor, but in many ways that is a disservice to those that did not survive, or whose homes were not miraculously saved from distruction.

    I am a big fan of Roger Fenton's shot of cannon balls in the valley of the shadow of death. It is surreal and awful at the same time, without showing a single body or bloodspot. Some of Chris' images I am sure will aquire similar 'art' encrustations with time, as the raw memory fades and they can be looked at as something other than pure records. For me, the shot of the dresses on the clothes rack has that feel already.

  4. #14

    Chris Jordan's Katrina work

    "Katrina is still too fresh in the memory to see these as anything other than Katrina documentary shots."

    Struan, here we disagree. Some have an extra-temporal quality. On these images the viewer is not given much of a geographical reference, so they could have been taken at any scene of (natural or not so natural) disaster. I compare it with Misrachs work. Take his image of the dead cows rotting away in a heap. It has/had a context, a reference to an actually existing situation, but I can still look at these images without the knowledge of why and where it was photographed interfering with my looking. They have a universal kind of quality trancending the occasion, and so do some of Chris' images.

    Bruce said: "That said, do we really need more images that invoke despair, hopelessness, loss, and the rest of the raft of negative emotions?" - My question: What's wrong with reality? The world is full of misery and you can't turn your eyes away from it. But does that mean you immediately are invoked to feel despair, loss and hopelessness? I know a great many people who would not have those feelings when confronted with Chris's images, including some leading politicians all over the globe. Although I am not condoning their reactions, I merely wanted to point out that there are other options as well.

  5. #15

    Chris Jordan's Katrina work

    Chris Jordan's images from Katrina, in my opinion, are powerful, iconic photographs that are more documentary than photojournalism. There is a distinction. Chris' images evoke the atmosphere of devastation and loss, and invite you to look carefully at all the details of a world turned upside down. They are not pretty pictures, and whether they are art is totally up to the viewer. Some will consider them exploitative, and make them uncomfortable. Others, I believe in the majority, see images depicting what just' is', but skilfully brought to our notice because of a unique eye. I feel these will stand the test of time. Chris also did not go into the region until things had settled down. This work is totally different from those showing the moments as the disaster unfolded, the photojournalistic images. I feel that neither is better, just different. A compilation of some of the best work are available here http://www.digitaljournalist.org/issue0509/katrina_thumbs.html

  6. #16
    blanco_y_negro
    Join Date
    Mar 2001
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    Istanbul
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    Chris Jordan's Katrina work

    Very powerful images.. Hats off to Chris Jordan, and thanks to Tim for pointing that out.

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