Thursday, February 12, 2009
Response to Molotov Man
I actually really agree with Joy Garnett. I think she had every right to use the image and interpret it in her own way. I can understand why Susan Meiselas would be upset at her image being decontextualized and dislocated from its original meaning. However, I love the idea of an image taking on a whole new meaning and context, and if I were a photographer, I think I might be excited to see this whole other view on my picture. Art is so subjective anyway, so why not embrace it?
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3 comments:
I agree with Joy Garnett's perspective on how she should be able to alter and transform the context of the image, but after reading Susan's point of view,Joy should have asked permission. I would also be upset if my image was reproduced without my permission.However, Susan was bothered more by the way the image lost it's original meaning, which demonstrated a historical event in Nicaragua, but Joy's new perspective on the image was also interesting as well as the pepsi t shirt. I definitely enjoy to see a well known image transformed into the artist's own style and meaning, so as long as they ask permission.. it should be fine!
I think the entire article was designed to garner sympathy and support for Joy. The two sides of the argument were not explained equally. I think the part of the article about Susan was very weak. It spoke almost entirely about the context behind her photograph, but very little about her struggle to gain creative acknowledgement for her work.
That being said, I side entirely with Joy. Her first encounter with the image was with a cropped version of Susan's photograph. Therefore it was another person who re-appropriated the context of the picture by changing the composition. Joy's painting was derived from this re-appropriation. In fact, Susan should be happy that her image is now getting such wide-spread attention. People will research the origin of the photograph and will therefore become aware of that significant part of history. Not to mention the 20+ year gap between when the photo was taken and when the painting was made--at that point I don't think Joy should have to ask permission or pay to have permission to use the imagery. Joy redistributed the image and used it in her own way, making it no longer Susan's work.
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