I have looked through Josh Quigley's photographs a few times and my mind can't wrap around what topics he's addressing or not addressing. The two that I posted are the ones that catch my attention the most out of what I have seen. I read a few sentences about the general concept, that they are "capturing unabashed performances of sexuality and domesticity in contemporary American society." Knowing that they are staged makes me feel like there is something more that he is trying to get at than just capturing a moment.. that's my question.
It has to be more than just her getting out of the hot tub. The light is focused on her, accentuating her curves as she emerges from the water while the other figures are in the shadows. The other girl in the hot tub is holding a glass of wine, and she doesn't look like she's 21+. I am not naive enough to say that any of these situations don't happen, so I feel like it's a good thing to surface what people aren't accustomed to seeing since we are such a private society.
In the second photo of the little boy holding the remote to a television full of nude women, I feel like I can pull more meaning out of it. Technology provides so many outlets to access pornography, it's sad to think that the media can get to your kids faster than they are able to grow up not knowing about these things till parent figures think that they should hear "the talk" or what have you. This younger kid could have stumbled upon this, or could be curious after having seen it before. With the kid being the only one in the frame I feel like I have to do something to protect them. I feel like there should be a slogan like "this is why you shouldn't leave your kids alone with your cable provider" or something along those lines. But of course anyone can write more with something they don't agree with. Some of Quigley's other photographs are more lighthearted. I think the fact that they are staged representations of everyday life is what gets me. Are staged representations supposed to be just that or more?
2 comments:
I didn't think of this till now, and I don't think this is what he intended, but the hot tub photo makes me think of Boticelli's The Birth of Venus. haha I can't connect the others I have seen to previous works, but I thought it was interesting enough to bring up.
The feeling that initially came across me after looking at the photography, reading your article, and then going over your uploaded photos again was pretty clear at least to me: I think he is not only touching on sexuality of the younger generation, but also what impact that it has on even younger children. I was first drawn to the look on the boy's (towel boy) face, and where his eyes are directed. The two younger children are observing this with honest admiration and curiosity, while the father seems to be more concerned with the impact that it as on the younger children who he still has control of. I cannot really see where his eyes are directed, but they look like they are looking peripherally at the two younger kids. After thinking about that it became somewhat easy to connect that to the top picture. Just innocent influence and curiosity of young children.
This is what I initially got from it. I will sit on it for a bit and try to come back on here and say what else has come to me. Our observations are fairly similar Monica!
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