Today was the last day of the expositions of (among others) Martine Barrat and Larry Clark in the Maison Europeenne de la Photographie. I was unsure if I would like it because I’m generally picky when it comes to museums. Either way the cold, hotel like, entrance didn’t get me very enthusiastic.
The first series of pictures we came across was “Harlem in my heart” from Martine Barrat. A very impressive series of pictures shot in the ghetto’s of Harlem. A series she was apparently personally involved in through the community work she did here. Almost all of the pictures were black and white and very impressive. A very good example of pictures that says more than a thousand words, mostly through a look, a movement or even something as futile as the wrinkles in somebodies hand.
At the room with the work of Larry Clark we were welcomed by a sign warning us that explicit content that was not suitable for children and sensitive people. An exposition that by the way is named “Tulsa” after the place he was born which apparently is not a very nice place. Even so, Harlem isn’t either but Larry obviously has a more direct approach of getting the message across than Martine: a women with a black eye, a domestic fight or people getting a shot of heroine were only some of the pictures that filled the room. Looking on his Myspace account we can see that this exposition is no exception in his work.
What stunned me is how well these artists do what the proffesionals in the field of marketing and advertisement try to do; getting a message across. While we can use text, moving image, sound or all of the above, these photographers manage to tell a story with just one still image. Even worse, if I’m quite honest I think they sometimes do a much better job than we do. These expositions really show what you can achieve though keeping it simple.