The Photographer's Gaze - a photo on Flickriver

A woman studying Amy Sherald's painting, "What's different about Alice is that she has the most incisive way of telling the truth." It was the last day of the Amy Sherald: American Sublime show at the Whitney. -- August 10, 2025

whitney.org/media/61984
"Ekow Eshun: I'm Ekow Eshun. I'm a writer and a curator.

In this work, there's a couple of things going on. We have this figure who, let's call her Alice on the basis of the title of this painting. She's gazing out at us, but she's got this camera.

And I want to think about the camera for a moment, because, historically, the photographic image is, apparently, an objective image, but by situating it within this painting, Amy Sherald suggests that everything is in play, everything is subjective. This is not a photograph. This is the painting of a woman holding a camera. She's not looking through the lens of the camera. She's looking at us. There's a double gaze in process. Arguably, there's a triple gaze in process as well, because we are looking at Alice.

So, here, we have a subjective take on an apparently objective image. She's inviting us to think subjectively about this figure. The title gives a clue to that.

This painting, I suggest, is an invitation, not simply to look at a Black figure, but to look with and from the perspective of a Black figure, to think not just of what we see on the surface, but what we might imagine as the depths and richness of imagining and being that exist within this figure."

Taken in: United States / New York / Meatpacking District (show map)

Taken on: August 10, 2025

Tags:

Whitney Museum of American Art

Amy Sherald: American Sublime

portrait

woman with camera

gaze

iPhone 14 Pro Max

August 10, 2025 « less

Sets appears in: • Museums & Galleries • Whitney Museum Of American Art more » • Photographers « less

Groups appears in: • FlickrToday (only 1 pic per day) • Flickr Social more » • Make me smile! :-) « less

Camera: Apple iPhone 14 Pro Max, f/2.8, 1/60 sec, 9mm, ISO 640 (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	Apple iPhone 14 Pro Max
Aperture:	f/2.8
Exposure Time:	0.017 sec (1/60)
Focal Length:	9mm
ISO:	640
Exposure Bias:	0 EV
Flash:	Off, Did not fire
Exposure Program:	Program AE
Exposure Mode:	Auto
Metering Mode:	Multi-segment
White Balance:	Auto
Color Space:	Uncalibrated
Software:	18.5
Show full info

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