Mackenzie Martin - Gallery Visit

The piece I chose was a photograph from an coffee shop and art gallery. It is a vertical photo of a closed two-pane window. The window frame is white. There are open blinds going down two-thirds of the window. Behind the blinds, there is a woman in a long-sleeved white shirt. Her face is covered by the window frame and the blinds. Her hands are on the window with curled fingers in a distressed fashion.

This piece was in a collection of photos that don’t show any faces. In fact, most of the photos were just hands. This one was included in the collection, and I chose it because it was a little bit more complex. There is more going on in the photo than meets the eye.

The artist used frame within a frame in this photo. The photo is of a window frame, so that kind of sets the piece up in a unique way. They didn’t have to shoot more than the window, because anything outside of the window frame would have been irrelevant and distracting. They also made good use of the lighting. There is reflection on the glass of the window, and if the photographer had tried to black out all of the reflection, it would have had a much different effect.

I think this photo is about being trapped. She is behind a closed window. You cannot see her face, but by the position of her hands, she is obviously upset. It seems to me like she is distressed, scared, or angry. Whichever emotion she is portraying, it is a negative one. Because of the combination of her being behind the window and her face not being visible, I get the sense that she feels unseen in her entrapment.

I enjoy this piece because it feels like she is calling out quite literally. I feel like if you could see her face, she would be screaming or sobbing. I like the way the photo conveys emotion even though you can’t see her facial features. This is interesting to me because the main and most obvious way to tell how a person is feeling is by looking at their expressions.

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The photograph I took with inspiration from this art had some definite similarities, but I also tried to change it a bit. In my photo, the subject’s face is unable to be seen, just like in the first piece. This means I had to use other elements of the photo to portray how she was feeling. Her hands play a role in conveying her emotion. I tried to create a sense of stress and maybe even frustration by the position of her arms and tense fingers. The girl is not “trapped” behind the window in my photo, but I did try to use that framing technique to get a similar vibe.