May 30, 2004

Loretta Lux "imaginary portraits" of real children. Lux renders a vision of childhood that is beautiful, formal and chilling.
posted by Darshon 20 years ago
  • Yes, I realize that we're not supposed to post twice in a day. But to make up for it, I won't post ANYTHING tomorrow.:)
  • demon child demon child demon child demon child
  • Well if you would have put them in the same post we all would have been arrested.
  • Dar- 1) sometimes you gotta break the rules.in the earliest weeks of MoFi, we'd all post 2 or 3 times a day, so drunk with power and giddy with excitement were we... 2) lovely post! How did you find it?
  • Kind of reminds me of these dolls.
  • geez. you monkeys are determined to give me nightmares tonight, aren't you? aren't you? of course, the original demon children need to be mentioned.
  • don't you love art that makes you go, "oh, wow," although you can't say why?
  • I especially like this one. don't you love art that makes you go, "oh, wow," although you can't say why? It fills me with the immediate urge to figure out why. What is it about these pictures? 1) Colors are desaturated. 2) Light is diffuse. 3) No attempt is made to have the child smile. 4) Pose is generally full-face. 5) Shape of photo is generally square. 6) Child's dress and background are color-coordinated. I think it's the squareness, the full-face poses, and the color-coordination that lend the feel of being 'formal' that Darshon mentioned. Why do they strike us being wrong, 'demonic'? I suggest because they violate our norms for what photography of children should be. In typical modern American portraiture of children, the child should smileSmileSMILE, dammit! The portrait is almost always rectangular, not square, and vertically oriented. Colors are bright. Light is used to create three dimensionality of the face and body, rather than to suppress it. What these photos suggest to me is the alienation of childhood. Great photos, great post. Thanks, Darshon!
  • It's compositional balance opposed to quietly norm-violating motif. Now send me money.
  • *starts to take out wallet* ... *hits head repeatedly against wall* That was a dirty trick, Nostrildamus.
  • Slithy - they seem odd because children often do smileSmileSMILE for photos. If they are not shy, and know/like the photographer, children will mug the camera. They aren't self concious like adults - if their clothes are messy or their teeth crooked, they don't care. My five year old niece cracks a grin so big it might as well be a grimace whenever you go to take her picture. (A very cute grimace) Actually, I'm not at all fond of typical Sears types portraits. The best photographed portraitsof both children and adults seem to be unplanned snapshots from a gifted hand - catching just the right light and angle and expression of a person just being themselves.