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| Grocery stores tell us we need water. |
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| They tell us we need "organic" apples... |
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| and expensive cheeses. |
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| Nourishment. Right? |
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| They tell us we need to buy cards... "Think about it. Why do people buy cards?
It's not because they want to say how they feel. People buy cards
because they can't say how they feel or are afraid to. And we provide the
service that let's them off the hook. You know what? I say to hell with
it. Let's level with America. Or at least let them speak for themselves.
Right?" |
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| Sometimes life is choosing a box of cereal. Or, sometimes life is choosing a box of cereal because it is called 'Life'. |
This sequence “represents
our culture in America. The essay conveys the process of generalization that we
saw in Ansky's work. The photos show the particular aspects of our normal
grocery routine, but also, represent our whole culture in America” (quote from
Kelsey’s comment). I really liked this project because I was able to let go of
my control on my images. When it comes to photography, I have learned that,
ultimately, the meaning is up to the interpretation of the viewer. I can try to
convey a message all I want with seven images… but, each individual is going to
have a different view. Some people sort-of understood what I was trying to say
and some didn’t. I really wanted to highlight commercialism in America and beg
the question “Why do we need a store to tell us what we need? Just, why?”. Many people understood that I wanted the
images to seem like a daze but I wanted to do that in order to suggest a hypnosis we go
under in such a store. Groceries stores are full of advertisements- to the
point where it is overwhelming and puts us in a trance.
Anyway,
I learned why Jean Muhr was so controlling over the meaning of his photographs.
They were his and he didn’t want
anyone to interpret them incorrectly. I realized this during the comment stage
of this project and once I saw how creative and unique each comment was, I
backed off. I began to understand what Muhr couldn’t… everyone is going to see
a photographic essay differently, no matter what. I liked that some people saw it as a simple grocery list, some saw it as a metaphor for sleepwalking, and some saw it as a Garden of Eden post-Adam and Eve. All of these interpretations are equally valid because, honestly, that is what will stay with each individual. However, it just wasn't what I thought of when I put this sequence together.
One last thing I need to highlight is the image of the sympathy cards. I wanted this to be the climax of the sequence and not many, if any, saw that as it. I'm questioning grocery stores in this sequence with the ultimate image being that of cards. Why do we need a store to tell us how sorry we feel for someone? Why do we need words of sympathy commercially created for us? And, why are the sympathy cards so close to the birthday cards?
Life - I wish I had gotten a chance to hear your intentions while we were discussing the posts, but I definitely feel like this essay focuses in on the mundane aspects of everyday life. Though the images are restricted to the grocery store setting, I found it interesting that you chose to put the Life cereal box last. Even if there is no significance behind the final image, to me it says "sometimes life is choosing a box of cereal." I noticed that you posted the photograph of the apples twice, but with different editing choices - i thought this might signify walking past the apples once and not noticing them, but then walking past them again and deciding to buy them (which would explain why they exhibit more color in the second image). I also noticed that was the only image that had any color at all, so maybe that is all the viewer should choose to buy?
ReplyDeleteI also enjoy how you gradually construct a narrative out of the trivial. I noticed that you simultaneously introduce color and literal "signs" of emotion in the second half of your work...I would like to know what shall follow in this story. Can this narrative ever leave the grocery store? Or do these items that we encounter remain on the shelves? What lies beyond the store is that missing (or more likely, hidden) piece of a larger quotation, which I as a viewer would love to discover...
ReplyDeleteSana, launching off your point, Sam and I were talking on Thursday that many of the foods in Grace’s essay seem directly related to life – not just any fruit, but the apples, perhaps a symbol of Adam and Eve; not just any poultry, but eggs that even crated look ready to hatch; and of course, not just any cereal, but LIFE for the last photo. The combination of all these life connecting and sustaining foods with absolutely no people in the store to consume them is unsettling – gives an unnerving feel to a setting in which most of us feel comfortable and safe.
ReplyDeleteAlso, maybe this is a bit of a stretch, but looking back over the essay again now makes me think of John Updike’s short story A&P. Almost like this may have been the deserted, desolate aisles of store the protagonist would have had to work in at night had he not impulsively quit his summer grocery store job.
The biblical allusion to the garden of Eden, as signified by the apples, is a fascinating idea. To take it even further, consider the abandoned modern grocery store as either the garden of eden once Adam and Eve have been evicted, or the grocery store as symbolic of the struggle to earn their daily bread outside the garden of eden. The two different shades of apples also allows for a dual interpretation like that.
DeleteInevitably, the color will drain from our lives. I read Grace's poetic essay as a reminder---perhaps a warning---and worthy of a long quote. While we work to wander the metaphorical aisles of our existence, collecting incidentals aimed to sustain our life, the only promise we have is to meet our death. Eggs, which are traditionally symbolic of birth in the Christian tradition, set along side the apple--traditionally symbolic of sin--punctuate the essay and the mortality it aims to acknowledge, or perhaps reconcile. Although a certain ambiguity exits, to me the essay identifies on its own and doesn't seem to depend upon a relationship with historical context. Lovely essay, Grace :)
ReplyDeleteLost in the Supermarket- This essay reminds me of Don DeLillo's White Noise. I feel exactly like the protagonist viewing these photos, walking through the aisles being overwhelmed by consumerism. The familiar noises in the grocery store create a mundane feel, signified by the coldness of the black and white. However, we get a glimpse of color, a moment of hope with the colored apple photo. The positivity fades quickly with the next, colorless close up of a Life box. I think this collection represents our culture in America. The essay conveys the process of generalization that we saw in Ansky's work. The photos show the particular aspects of our normal grocery routine, but also, represent our whole culture in America. This can also be related to Vishniac and Singer's collaboration in A Day of Pleasure, where the collection of personal essays, along with the unrelated photos gives a broad sense of the communal nation in Poland. Though the photos create ambiguity, the viewer cannot escape a feeling of inevitable death. One of the characters in White Noise accurately assesses this setting in America with, “Here we don’t die, we shop. But the difference is less marked than you think.”
ReplyDeleteAt first, I was confused when I saw this essay. My mind automatically wanted to construct a narrative when perhaps one was never intended. I saw the wide photo of the beverage aisle and expected the close up photo to be of a beverage. I saw the fruit aisle and expected the close up to be of fruit. Perhaps the last image, of the Life cereal box, is trying to convey the message that we can't always contextualize everything? If we expect a certain outcome, we will inevitably be let down.
ReplyDeleteMost of the food products in the photos represent nutrition or something we need, as if telling us to be physically healthy. The only words in the set are "life" and "sympathy," which also represent things we need in order to have mental health. We go to the supermarket to in order to live well. It is one of the ways in which we shape the lives we live.
ReplyDeleteFor this photo essay I really got the sense of what it is like for an individual to be faced by an immense tragedy and to then be forced to carry on and face the necessary mundane aspects of life. For the lonely person walking down these deserted aisles of the grocery store, life has been unalterably changed. They now feel completely alone in the world and everything that was important before, i.e. the selection of groceries, is now a painful and draining experience. I specifically enjoyed the photo of the collection of sympathy cards. The photo produces enough distance away from the cards so that I get the sense that there is a wistful and almost regretful expression on the face of the one viewing those cards. A moment where he or she stands there lost in thought. The repetition of the photo of the apple, one in black and white and one in color, also held specific importance for me. It is as if the viewer passed by the apples without recognition the first time, but upon second glance is reminded of some vestige from his or her old life which gives a bit of hope and brightness to his or her present state of sorrow.
ReplyDeleteI'm so intrigued by the use of text in this essay, because at first glance they aren't words that seem to fit directly with the tone of the other pictures or even with the pictures themselves. Most of the images seem to be focused on aesthetics; the shapes of the fruits and the use of strong lines in the photos of the cards and of the cereal boxes. But I think that's what makes the words so powerful. They do add something unexpected and they are sobering, but I think the photographed objects are interesting and lively enough that rather than bring the photos down they add another aspect alongside the images themselves. This is very powerful.
ReplyDeleteto buy:
ReplyDeletemilk
coffee
apples
oreos?
cheese (the good kind)
eggs
card for Michael
apples
cereal
what you bought:
milk
a pumpkin
eggs
cheese
apples
a card
what you stole:
inside the egg carton you filled the empty space with raspberries. They juice a little when you close the lid.
A surprise:
Walking to the checkout line, a women grabs your arm and says: Boy, I like your pants! She smells like a piano, and you remember her with photographic vividness for 73 minutes.
A second surprise:
The cashier scans your eggs. She pauses and her lips curl like a wet paper. The weight isn't correct, her screen says. She scans it over with a laser gun again and places it in your bag with a smile and shrug.