Laypeople often eliminate the most interesting photos from their repertoire in their effort to impose their own narrative upon an event, in this case a wedding.
The selection for the photos of the Prairie Gallery’s current exhibition ‘Not in My Wedding Album,’ was consciously made not so much for their artistic merits (save for a few) as for their purely narrative possibilities. The photos invite the viewer to freely interpret the truth of the event documented. For example, a bride holds the hand of a priest for a dance; she has a smile that could be mischievous or simply welcoming. A new couple walks together with the bride looking heavily downward (a photo by Bryn Weller, here to the right); the image could be interpreted as her disappointment or merely fatigue. I witnessed many visitors at the opening toying with various interpretations of a photo of a gentleman entering a room with a large sum of cash in his hand. The exhibition is fun.
This free play of the narrative element has a subtext: it reminds viewers that photography, like any technological reproduction of external events (such as video), is not an objective eye. This is an old idea but always worth reiterating. Here it is done especially well.
'Not in My Wedding Album', at Prairie from March 20-May 9, 2009. Featuring the work of Jay Bachemin, Brad Smith, Bryn Weller, Nicole Dixon and Stephanie Carson. 4035 Hamilton Avenue Cincinnati, OH
