the photos of martine fougeron
I’ve been really really bored at work lately, and so I have been using my google reader to surreptitiously find more blogs to read. I feel guilty about that (I do read up on work related stuff as well, but for 9 hours…suffice to say there is not enough caffeine in the world to counteract this kind of boredom), but I do it anyway. Some of those are photo blogs of course, and through those photo blogs I’ve stumbled across some really really amazing sites.
One that sticks in my mind is the photos of Martine Fougeron. She took pics of her two sons over the course of what must be a few years, from early adolescence until mid or late teens.
The New Yorker says:
Like Tina Barney, whose work haunts this show, Fougeron photographs her extended family in domestic and leisure settings that suggest a kind of privileged comfort. Like Nan Goldin, another key influence, Fougeron is alert to the erotic possibility of every encounter—all the more intriguing when her subjects are her two handsome teen-age sons and their circle of friends. Fougeron’s pictures of Adrian and Nicolas sleeping or lounging about in Greenwich Village and the South of France have a lovely looseness and spontaneity, but they never feel like snapshots. Color energizes the work and adds to its sensual undertow.
And while I can definitely see in her pictures what they have to say about them, my description would be much simpler. Captivating. Wonderful. Inspiring. Intimate.
It is sort of like wine - I know if I like it or not, I don’t have the words to explain exactly why.
Check it out, and see what you think. (And despite the use of the word “erotic” in the new yorker’s description, there is nothing that isn’t safe for work.) The funny thing is that I’m learning that I’m really drawn to artists who capture pictures of people in this amazing way. Because of or despite that I avoid having people in my own pictures? I think because of. I would love to have the talent to capture people like this.
Some of those photos are gorgeous. They remind me that so much personality can be expressed through hair that’s not a hairdo, if that makes any sense.
I find them erotic (and captivating and wonderful). It’s something I have to deal with when I take “intimate” pictures of my own son. I don’t want people to misinterpret them or misuse them. I find it hard to share that kind of photo with others, so I really admire Martine Fourgeron for sharing this series.
Mary, that’s funny, their hair did have its own personality in a way!
FW - you’re probably smart to keep those pics of your son to yourself, at least at his age. You just never know, do you? But I bet martine fougeron had a lot of pics of her sons from when they were younger too - I don’t think it is an accident that they were at least a certain age in the pics, you know?
I think also that part of it is this society - when mothers breastfeeding their kids are seen as indecent (and there are some who think that!), I guess skin in general becomes eroticized. Like that 15 year old who posed for annie leibovitz and showed *gasp* her back! And that became this huge scandal. (Those dirty-minded people! What were they thinking when they looked at a young girl’s back, I wonder!) I think the reaction of people to that picture is the scandal, if you want my opinion! The portrait is gorgeous, she’s got nothing showing that should cause a fuss. And shoot, we’re all naked underneath our clothes, I think it is time to admit it!
Anyway, keep taking those pics, and you can always use a service like blurb to make yourself a nice bound copy of your favorites, and have it for you to enjoy and share only with the specific people who won’t misinterpret!