The Arts in New York City

Tuesday, the windy afternoon, I rushed to the International Center of Photography on 43^rd Street planning to have a last minute glimpse of it before it closed, so I could at least have something to write on the IDC paper. However, it was that less than an hour look-around that redefined my definition of Photography. Photography, draws a line between art and life, and that line is truth.
“ This Is War!” is the topic of the exhibition. The museum displays a variety of war images including the Spanish Civil War, World War II and so on. Tens of years, passed, those pictures are as stunning still: Spanish refugees are fleeing across the border trying to avoid the Spanish revolutionary war; a little boy looks like 5 years old is carrying a bag almost as tall as him. After World War II in German, a German woman is holding a baby girl in her arms, another two girls are dragging her coat behind her, everything has fallen into ruins, and there’s still smoke coming from the fallen building behind them; during the World War II, in a refugee camp, there are more than ten people living there, a few kids are standing outside with their blank eyes looking far away.

Among all those photos, what shocked me most are the photos from El Salvador (a country in South America). Those photos were done in the early 1980s when El Salvador people were trying to rebel against the U.S backed local military dictatorship authority. There’s one picture that I can never forget: Tons of mutilated corps were left at the foot of a barren hill. Those were the “rebels” put down by the U.S backed military during the insurgency.

Before that exhibition, if someone asked me to define what would be a good picture, I would give examples of those pictures on the post cards like pictures of sunset, sea, Fuji mountain, Hawaii and so on, beautiful sceneries and beautiful color. Or I would probably choose some pictures from “America’s Next Top Model”, pictures of exotic-looking face, perfect body proportions and poses. However, after the exhibition, those black and white pictures from the war, about death and blood, totally changes my view and makes me rethink about what defines a good picture. Is it about color, symmetry, light, or position? From the exhibition, I learned it is truth. A good picture reveals truth. A good picture can make people notice things they’ve never noticed before. People are saying that the Spanish Civil war symbolizes Spanish people’s efforts towards gaining freedom and independence; however, few know that the normal Spanish people were trying to flee from the war, comparing with gaining freedom and independence, a normal Spanish would rather get away from death and blood. People are talking about how evil German was in the Nazi period; however, few notice how many innocent people in German died or hurt by the Allie’s forces when they were battling with the Nazi. I also cannot help thinking of the war in Iraq. Even though the news about Iraq comes everyday with a lot of critics concerning U.S soldiers’ safety, few people actually think about how many innocent Iraqi people died from this war during the U.S military suppression of the local rebellions, and we rarely saw those pictures, either. A good picture tells people a story, a truth; the truth may be painful, but we see it, we can try to cure it.

This entry was posted on Thursday, November 1st, 2007 at 12:35 pm and is filed under Lu Huang, WRITING ASSIGNMENTS. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.