Review on Aperture Foundation: alex webb show

The Aperture exhibit (4th Floor, 547 W 27th St, New York, NY 10001) is a very nice exhibit that showcases photography and its importance. The exhibit is located on the fourth floor and there are many pictures on the wall. When you first walk in, there is a front desk, a small library or hangout spot located on the left. The exhibit is broken up in about three sections by walls and the walls are colored in yellow, and some orange from what I remember. The room is very spacious and all that is there to focus on are the big framed photographs placed on the walls which this time, was showcasing the work of alex webb: La Calle, Photographs from mexico, taken from 1978 to 2007.
Since the exhibit is showcasing Alex webb, all of his photographs were placed on the walls. In those photographs, webb was showing street, taken in a vibrant, colorful place which has undergone transformations since his first trips to Mexico—including natural disasters, financial resurgence, political corruption, and drug wars. He also showed many cultural photographs and citizens of mexico in their everyday life routines. His work had a lot of color which is not common by this photographer but he realized that he cannot show how mexico is in black and white and color is such an important thing in mexico’s culture.
One of my favorite photographs of the exhibition is called “nuevo laredo, tamaulipas 1996” taken by photographer alex webb. This photograph was the first photograph introduced to us in the tour around the exhibition.i saw many other photographs but i came back to that one photograph many times and i wanted to know what about the photograph that was so appealing to me. In the photograph, webb plays with shadows and figures as he catched the perfect picture. In the photo, there is a man and a woman, the man’s back is facing us, he looks like he is hugging the woman and you can see the woman’s face and she is smiling, where they seem to be a couple who is very happy together. Tis part of the photograph gave off the emotion of happiness when you look at it. There is also a silhouette of a man holding a little girl and it looks like a shadow. This is very interesting because its gives off the illusion that it is the shadow of the couple in the first layer. But is reality, due to the position of the silhouette, you know that it is another set of people who are hidden in shadows in the third layer. This silhouette also gives you a feel of love, because of the gesture of how the man is holding the girl, you get a feeling of compassion. There is also a man in the second layer, covering his face with a red book. He seems to not want to be a part of the photo. However, this man’s position and the position of the rest of the people in the photograph is very important and it makes the composition great. There is a rounded shadow framing the man holding the child, and all of the components of the photograph connect, giving it a balanced and rounded shape. I loved this photograph because it had so many good components and it was taken at the perfect time.
alex-webb-mexico-nuevo-laredo-tamaulipas-1996

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One Response to Review on Aperture Foundation: alex webb show

  1. rmichals says:

    This is a wonderful photo and the guide must have thought so too to start our discussion with it. I agree with you that this is a happy photograph. The moment when one realizes that the shadow is not the shadow of the couple opens the photograph to all kinds of interpretations. It juxtaposes the love between adults with that of a man for a child. Formally it is a great example of a frame within a frame. Everything directs our attention to the silhouette in the center.

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