Rikki Reich

Rikki Reich, a noteworthy photographer, came to our class and spoke about her life as an artist and some of the stories behind a few personal works. She passed around a few photographs dating back to when she first started to show us just a few things that she found interesting. Reich expressed that she was very fond of hard angles and lines and so within her earlier portraits there were traces of this effect. It was the last few photographs of the afternoon that lured in our focus and brought us to where Rikki Reich stood today with her works in progress. Her documented photographs of September 11, 2001 were extremely striking and amazing to look at. There were several pictures of the Twin Towers engulfed in smoke and they were blown up to a large size to show an immense amount of detail. Each photograph showed its signs of progress, as it was marked with ink and developed differently each time. It was astonishing to hear and see Reich’s “footsteps” in her pictures from that day. Most of us could explain where we were and what we did on that day as well, however Reich is one of the few who can actually show this terrible time to us within her own reality.

John Gregory Brown's visit

John Gregory Brown came to speak with our class on Wednesday, March 31st and I must say that he is quite the funny man. I have been here for almost four years and had yet to meet the so- called "JGB" and I am glad that I finally did. His presentation was a reflection on emotions and how we go about expressing them. We took a look at how certain artists express their emotions through poetry and song and then we analyzed the words within them. The words and phrases of some of these were so intense that it was impossible to hold back a sad sigh in reaction. So, after about a few of these we begin to get the point. Something once cherished can produce both love and pain. We see that these two concepts counteract each other in a way.

"JGB" also introduced us to his hometown, New Orleans and expressed to us how this place brought both happy times and sorrow. The sudden hit of hurricane Katrina destroyed his home and his childhood where he grew up, and while grieving, he decided to make art with the ruins of his home. Prof. Brown showed photos of what was left of his home and he referred to them as "beautiful". Odd to think of a disaster being beautiful, but the images that the pictures captured was indeed truly beautiful. I think that finding something's counteracting "part" is a beautiful process in itself.. Anyway, aren't there usually more sides than one?