In 1995, with the unexpected help of an NEA rejection, Merry Alpern became notorious for her photo series "Dirty Windows." Shot covertly across an airshaft, through a bathroom window on Wall Street, Alpern's photographs of female prostitutes and high-powered businessmen are strange and indistinct. Captured yet elusive, these images are more startling in their voyeuristic magnetism than they are shocking. The viewer must try to make sense of them, to cull stories from blurred lines and sheds of fabric. The viewer was shown images of blow jobs, strip teases, coke snorting, and a bunch more of other types of activities.
Alpern herself said:
“Reoccurring characters gave these pantomimes a soap opera quality and I'd try to decipher plot lines and guess the next scene. These minidramas and their unvarying props-- condoms, tattoos, silicone, crack-- filled my head and I began to think about the windows all the time. They found their way into my dreams.”
She captures absolute strangers in intimate situations. Her quest is the unadulterated, immediate moment and not a pose struck by someone aware they are being photographed. The persons captured in her camera’s viewfinder do not become suspicious, nor do they later discover their role in Alpern’s photographs. But then these are not portraits or photographs of persons but rather pictures of actions. Alpern’s final shots are such that her subject’s face – and thus identity – remains concealed.
Alpern’s images are incredibly invasive which is something that I strive for. The way that she frames the windows and catches these acts blows my mind. I think that the grainy quality of her images makes them even stronger. It helps you feel just like your peeking in, which is exactly what she was doing. While the images that I am working on now less and less have to do with these types of images I am still trying to find the perfect opportunity to arise where I am able to capture images like this, not exactly like these but with the same intrusive quality.
Gallery:
http://www.bonnibenrubi.com/Merry-Alpern_12_artworkdetails.html
Interview:
N/a
Website:
N/a
I was having a difficult time looking for information on Merry Alpern. She didn’t have a website and I couldn’t find any interviews either.
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