I chose two images of Patti Smith photographed by Judy Linn. "Patti Smith, at 450 Myrtle Avenue, Brooklyn. 1969." and "Ms. Smith at Rockefeller Center. Early 1970's." Judy Linn collaborated with Patti Smith to make photos that "echoed film stills and fashion spread." I really like these photographs because they're personal, random, experimental, etc... I love portraiture and I find people fascinating, so why not document a person who inspires you so much? I think that there's so much behind every person's eyes, and with a camera you have the (possible) ability to capture one instant of someone's life along with everything that makes them who they are.
Judy Linn was introduced to Patti Smith in the late 1960's by their boyfriends (Robert Mapplethorpe was Smith's.) They began to produce artwork together and Smith ultimately became a muse to Linn. Smith enjoyed being the actress in Linn's photographs and said that Linn "would print pictures unlike anyone else’s, "tender and gritty." The photos above definitely reflect a kind of grittiness and almost an ethereal type of feeling, especially in the way that the mirror of the first photo is out of focus and Smith's hair flies around her face in the second. They're very quiet photographs too, which is strange because Patti Smith wasn't a quiet person. She was the 'godmother of punk,' a poet, an artist, an activist.
I think all of the images that accompany the article could stand alone but I like the idea that they are a part of a series that spans years. The fact that Linn and Smith collaborated together for so long shows that sometimes different types of artists work wonderfully together and I'm sure so much was learned. The photographer Judy Linn and the images she produced inspire me to follow the things and people that act as muses in my own life.
Thank you Rebecca. The top image offers up a sense of the intimacy of Smith and Linn, while the second feels much more distant, as if Smith has become a more mysterious presence.
ReplyDelete