http://toohardtokeep.blogspot.com/
This blog is requesting photos that are deemed "too hard to keep" by those who have come into their possession. Lazarus only asks that after the photos are mailed to them, any existing digital copy be deleted. The blog speaks to the changes that the photographic medium is going through as appropriated images gain a new kind of force and the meanings of individual photographs shift with their shifting owners. As Elizabeth Parker from the Times points out in her article also posted on the blog, "The photos expose the pain and ecstasy of everyday people. It's a public partnership to create art". I'd recommend checking it out. It will be interesting to watch this project unfold.
This is amazing, I'm glad you posted it, Rose. the sadness and pain that's at the core of this project is really affecting. It puts a distance between the image and the viewer that is palpable and it reminds me of postsecret.com in a way. (postsecret is a blog where people anonymously send in postcards that express the terrible secrets they carry that overwhelm their lives) and then they are all publicly presented on the blog page. Lazarus's project also (somewhat) relates to Tuyman's work, where the subject of the image presented is not immediately apparent to the viewer. With these "too hard to keep" photos, many of them are very neutral or withholding in appearance as well...we can't know why they are too hard to keep though, because each photo is so personal and individualized, and in that way, it's very different from Tuymans. Somehow the public forum brings a kind of comfort. I think everyone has a photograph (or secret) that is too hard to keep and stays hidden in a drawer somewhere.
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