Stories allow us to see things through other peoples eyes, feel their experiences and reflect back on our own experiences and lives.
Duane Michals (B.1932) is one of the 20th centuries most influential photographers. Described as a Storyteller Michals challenged photography traditions and built a reputation for ‘pioneering new ways of considering and creating photographs’
(Quote from: http://pem.org/exhibitions/179-storyteller_the_photographs_of_duane_michals)
Duane Michals, Chance Meeting, 1970
Fustrated with the silance of the still picture Michals began playing with image sequences, movement and multiple exposures. These new techniques brought to the image an ethereal presence and passage of time.
Often adding handwritten messages and poems to his images, language was another method Michals used to fill the images silence. Akin to the use of captions within newspapers, these captions offered information and/or context to an image; its handwritten manner offered a human warmth/presence (among other readings).
Duane Michals, The Photograph Is My Proof, 1967
Recent works include a series titled ‘Famous French Writers’ where Michals beautifully paints ontop of anonymous 19th century photographic portraits.
In describing his work Michals states ‘I’m not interested in what something looks like. I want to know what if feels like … a realm beyond observation’
(Quote from: http://pem.org/exhibitions/179-storyteller_the_photographs_of_duane_michals)
Looking at ‘metaphors and metaphysical things: the memory of a touch, a chance encounter, loss and death’. His photographs reflect ‘questions about the world rather than his images of the world itself’.
(Quote from: http://www.imaging-resource.com/news/2013/11/22/duane-michals-the-photographer-who-invented-himself)
Duane Michals, ‘In Take One and See Mt. Fujiyama’, 1976
Duane Michals, ‘Grandpa goes to Heaven’, 1989
Duane Michals, ‘The Illuminated Man’, 1968
HANDSHAKE 3 