Nikki Lee

  Holy Shit!


I was not very impressed at first when I looked at these photographs. 'Sure I said, 'they're depicting different social stratas as a way to give me a glimpse into this world. And, even more, this photographer isn't all about high quality images, and the snapshot thing seems like the work is rawer.' But then I began to see what makes this work so compelling.

Works courtesy of fraction magazine


    Upon wikipediaing Ms. Lee I learned:
               "Lee's most noted work, Projects (1997–2001), begun while still in school, depicts her in snapshot photographs, in which she poses with various ethnic and social groups, including drag queens, punks, swing dancers, senior citizens, Latinos, hip-hop musicians and fans, skateboarders, lesbians, young urban professionals, and Korean schoolgirls." (Courtesy of Wikipedia.org)

Then I looked back at all those images above (try it, it'll blow your mind). She then is so omnipresent in every picture. Such work transcends what is the typical role of a viewing audience. Yeah, they're cool images, but you never realize how much you are involved in these pieces. What I mean is that I felt slightly disappointed in myself for not noticing the peculiarities of the works. Maybe I need to start being a more active viewer. Maybe not. 

   It's very intriguing to think about all the aspects of art I, as a viewer, misses. I know I devote so much energy to subtleties and minute details in my work that why shouldn't I also analyze another artist's hard work as containing subtle and deliberate characteristics? Does it degrade me as a viewer to have missed so obvious the interesting and rather smart qualities of Ms. Lee's work? 

     This work speaks so much on identities, and the inability for someone to see at first a strong message in the work: we are not quite only shaped by the 'class' or race in which we are born in or choose to involve. But, rather we adapt ourselves to that environment: maybe subconsciously. 

      

   Ms. Lee pushes a very thought provoking thought in her work. For me, I see from her work that the visual world present how we express our 'attitude' more than just our race or the cultural identity we surround ourselves with .Our outward presence and the overall visual image of ourselves to the public sphere expresses what we will be communicating about ourselves more than actual auditory language.

 The visual world is omnipotent. Scary.