So I while wildly unrelated, I came across these two quotes this week and thought they were timely in regards to some of the issues we have been discussing in class.The first came from the populist entertainment magazine EW (I know, high literature indeed...) and the actress Michelle Williams, who was being interviewed in conjunction with her Oscar nominated performance of Marilyn Monroe. She states: "As a teenager, I didn't relate to Marilyn Monroe as an actress. I just related to her as a photograph."
The second quote came from the essay "Georgia O'Keefe and Photography," in our required text Shared Intelligence. Reflecting back on her work with Stieglitz, O'Keefe stated:
"Stieglitz's photographs...were different. I was always amazed to find out what I looked like. You see, I'd never known what I looked like or thought about it much. I was amazed to find my face was lean, and structured. I'd always thought it was round."
I thought both in their own ways tapped into what we expect a photograph to tell us and what it conveys or perhaps leaves out about the subject. Do we know anything about Marilyn Monroe after looking at a photograph or even an Andy Warhol print of her? Why would O'Keefe see a different version of herself in a photograph than her reflection in a mirror? Would a painted portrait give us something different? I don't know if I have any satisfying answers to the questions these quotes generate, but I thought they might be some interesting food for thought!
M.
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