 | | Urban Reflections Carolina Cueva looks at and analyzes Loretto Wells's the stunning black and white collection of a gritty New York. Article rating: 9.91 |
It makes sense that a photographer with diabetic retinopathy would have a fascination with illusionistic images. When Loretto Wells came to New York in the early 2000s she also came under the influence of illusion based on the idolization of New York by countless other famous photographers.
The knowledge that Loretto could one day go blind brought her to a questioning of what is seen. This could also mean that the use of sight in the present tense is amplified due to the intent to do so. A picture focusing on a car's tinted window reflecting gray clouds sprouting lightning are offset by a look into the car through the dark clouds. Another reflection shows a world unseen in the sky that appears in a puddle closer to humanity. Reflection is the window we must look to see what is true of our world.
Other photographs depict what the truth of the post 9/11 environment is amidst the facade of condos and the invasion of the suburbs: that New York is a waste land of moral desolation and dirty industry; if one so chooses to see it that way. And the choice of the eye is the first step of the photographer. Though the infallibility of the medium is photography's primary aspect what is created through what the truth is is the power of it's exactitude.
The value given to sight is much over looked, but never by those with the threat of losing that ability. Only when our faculties are depleting do we use them to their fullest capabilties. Love of reality is central to Loretto's outlook. Somebody once told her that though her pictures were aesthetically stunning they "don't show anything pretty." She replied "I don't see what I want; I just want to see."
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