I emailed Andres Serrano yesterday but it bounced, seems his mailbox is full.
Probably of hate mail. His recurring question; how we can be frail flesh and yet remain divine
beings before god?
This morgue series; I have no doubt he was minded of the crucified Christ when he saw these hands. Those little marks of blood in particular, the limpid curl of the fingers. Serrano's photograph (with the recording power of a Mamiya RB67 medium format camera) shows exactly what dead penetrated flesh looks like. The real is framed for contemplation. And if your heart has not yet quite turned to stone then grief and tears for both this unknowable victim of violence and the slain Jesus, the man, the son of god, is perhaps not a unreasonable response.
The playwright Bernard Shaw famously said he'd give up all the great paintings of Christ for just one snapshot. I think this Serrano photograph may be as close as it gets.
And here endeth today's lecture.
This morgue series; I have no doubt he was minded of the crucified Christ when he saw these hands. Those little marks of blood in particular, the limpid curl of the fingers. Serrano's photograph (with the recording power of a Mamiya RB67 medium format camera) shows exactly what dead penetrated flesh looks like. The real is framed for contemplation. And if your heart has not yet quite turned to stone then grief and tears for both this unknowable victim of violence and the slain Jesus, the man, the son of god, is perhaps not a unreasonable response.
The playwright Bernard Shaw famously said he'd give up all the great paintings of Christ for just one snapshot. I think this Serrano photograph may be as close as it gets.
And here endeth today's lecture.
