Justine Kurland

Having known very little about her or her work going into the lecture, I feel like I learned a lot from hearing Justine Kurland speak on September 18. A few topics she spoke about resonated with me in particular: the history and tribute to the American west in her work, what she called "easter egg gazing," and the exploitative relationship that photographers have with their subjects. 

The slides Ms. Kurland showed of the early American landscape - Carlton Watson, Mathew Brady (during the Civil War), etc. showed a powerful awareness of the traditions that her art has grown out of. It's something that I think is very admirable in terms of knowing your roots and knowing what has been done, as well as inventive - combining the new with the old in her peopled landscape photographs.

She also talked about "easter egg gazing" - her term for what is essentially making pretty pictures for the sake of making pretty pictures. She mentioned that it is something that she has questioned at different points in her career - what is the value of making pretty pictures in a [fucked up] world? Is there an obligation, or a responsibility, to shoot images more relevant to the state of the world right now (NOT pretty, to say the least)? It is a question that I think about in terms of artwork and its "importance" or lackthereof, but also in terms of general being and living in the world - how good is it of you to spend your time traveling aimlessly, looking at pretty landscapes, or making your own art in your own little enclosed studio, while there are possibilities to work directly for the benefit of others, to be involved in trying to fix the awful state of things?

Finally, one of the last things Ms. Kurland spoke about was the possibility for exploitative relationships between a photographer and her subjects. This is an issue that faces all photographers any time they point their camera towards a human subject, or scope out individuals to be in a picture - Why do you want THAT person? Generally, I think, the answer is because the person is visually interesting or appealing in some way that the photographer feels is appropriate for the picture she wants to make. No matter how she may try to disguise her motive, the truth behind it all is that she wants to make a good picture. I appreciated how up front Ms. Kurland was on this subject - she talked about being honest to herself about the fact that she may only be complimenting a 15 year old girl's shoes in order to get her to pose for her (the photographer's equivalent of trying to get someone into bed, I suppose). When you take a little bit of someone's soul, she asked, how responsible are you?