{"id":9231,"date":"2009-04-06T08:45:49","date_gmt":"2009-04-06T12:45:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/?p=9231"},"modified":"2010-07-04T07:57:17","modified_gmt":"2010-07-04T11:57:17","slug":"dying-dreams","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/?p=9231","title":{"rendered":"Dying Dreams, by William Gedney"},"content":{"rendered":"

Allison and I went to MOMA yesterday to see the current photography exhibit going on: Into the Sunset: Photography’s Image of the American West<\/a>. We both love photography. There were some old favorites on display (Dennis Hopper’s “Double Standard<\/a>“, for example – a photograph I love dearly), but lots of new things, and it was interesting – there were a couple of photographers I found myself drawn to, and it almost became a game. At one point, I thought – “Well, I obviously like so-and-so’s work a lot – his stuff is continuing to CALL to me from the wall.”<\/p>\n

One photo, by William Gedney, was my favorite in the entire exhibit. I stared at it for maybe 15 minutes. I can’t say what I was thinking or feeling, but I do know that my mind unhinged from itself, and floated off into memories, dreams, reflections. The photo seemed to not just be itself, but something else. It wasn’t didactic, like many of the photos were – trying to “make a comment”. It just was what it was, but the implications were enormous, and very emotional for me. I entered the photo, but not just that – it kind of ushered me into my own past, my own dreams for myself, and what it’s like when … well. Things don’t work out, basically.<\/p>\n

It took me some digging on this rainy thundery morning but I found it. I discovered an enormous online archive<\/a> of Gedney’s stuff – huge – and as I started browsing, I again got lost – in my own thoughts and memories. Some of the images I actually recognize, but many were new to me. He’s unbelievable. He’s got that late 50s-early-to-mid-60s sensibility that really resonates with me. The culture on the cusp of something. Dennis Hopper’s stuff has that too. The “old” world still visible, the coffee shops and late-night diners – the milk bottles on the stoop … but change is coming up from below. William Gedney made many trips across the country during that time, and many of his photos are of migrant workers, protests, Native Americans … and a lot of it is just … OBJECTS. Which is obviously my favorite kind of photograph. Cars at the curb, 1955. A house with a porch at night. An advertisement. There’s something psychotic at work in some of these photos, and I can’t put my finger on it.<\/p>\n

The photo that captivated me so much during the exhibit is below the jump.<\/p>\n

It’s what started the whole thing. I’ve been thinking about it all night and all morning. <\/p>\n

It seems to have something to say to me personally.<\/p>\n


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Allison and I went to MOMA yesterday to see the current photography exhibit going on: Into the Sunset: Photography’s Image of the American West. We both love photography. There were some old favorites on display (Dennis Hopper’s “Double Standard“, for … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3],"tags":[1514,273,600,161],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9231"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9231"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9231\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15633,"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9231\/revisions\/15633"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9231"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9231"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9231"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}