Judith Rodriguez: The Presentation of Self
© Roberto Muffoletto
Smile For The Camera
The photograph above is of my family made around 2011. Four generations. Uncle Joe is in the front with white hair, aunt Linda is in the front in the green sweatshirt. It was a family gathering when I returned to Buffalo, NY.
Standing in front of a camera waiting for the photographer to take my photograph, capturing my image, what do I think and what do I do?
The photographic work of Judith Rodriguez invites us to consider the nature of the portrait, the photographer and the reader/viewer of the image-text relationship. We have all taken the role of the subject turned into an object for the camera operator, the operator herself and the gazing viewer. As the subject turned into an object for the gaze we have all considered our presentation to others; that is, what do we want others to see and understand? I refer to the person in front of the camera as a subject transformed into an object for consumption. The transformation, subject-object relationship, results with an unknown entity, an image on a surface, pixels or silver, but not the person in front of the camera. The person images are unknown to the viewer except through imagination.
Historically the subject posed for the painter, presenting the self as a text to be read. Photography is not any different. Once in front of the camera the subject draws upon the social codes of gesture, body positioning, dress and the use of props. These codes are steered by an intended meaning and understanding by the potential viewer(s) or reader of the visual text. The photographer is not innocent in this process. For it is the camera operator who decides where to stand, how to frame, the use of lens and when to record. This is especially true with the work of Judy Rodriguez and other street photographers. The decision of when and how to photograph and edit out or in, constructs the resulting image. None of the decision-making is by chance for it takes experience and understanding of the social cultural context that they are working in. The key word is decision. (image source Wikipedia commons)
We may consider that there is more than one self-image, identity, constructed by the subject. There is the private self, the public self and the space in-between. Images produced for private consumption, as one may make in a photo-machine for personal gazing walks the line between public and private. Images found on various social media sites are public where subjects post how they want to be seen, not as they are, sharing that image for the gaze of others. The “selfie” is a good example of multi-layered intentions. On one level it is for the maker, on another it is for others to consume.
Rodriguez presents us, in this VASA exhibition, with the public presentation of people she encountered on the streets of Wilson, North Carolina (USA). In asking them for permission to photograph them she allowed them space and time to perform for the camera and perceived future viewers. As actors on the stage their self-imagination, what they think will look like plays a determining role. Rodriguez is not innocent in this process for she states that she selects light conditions, backgrounds and interesting people that she believes will result an imagined or pre-visualized image.
As Judith points out in the “conversation video” included with this exhibition, one subject after seeing her image stated that the photograph of her was the worse image she ever saw. But, and this an interesting point, she still wanted the image because she learned about herself from her analysis of her own visual text, she objectified herself. Here there is a play between the subject, the woman, and the photograph, the object. As one would stand in the mirror and analyze their presentation, they also look into their own eyes. They see themselves as the camera did and as others may.
Many would say that a portrait reveals the inner nature of the person depicted. I would counter with portraits reveals nothing about the person behind the social mask they are wearing. The portrait emerges out of a complex set of social and technological conditions. Consider the time requirement for making tintypes. The head held still through the long the exposure, eyes glaring into the lens and then on to the viewer, seeming to revealing some of the inner soul of the subject. The presentation of self to the camera, created for the resulting image to be shared with others, to be a marker of the subject’s existence, her or his soul. I have never seen a soul when looking at a portrait. What I do see is myself bouncing back at me. I create the meaning of the image, as the image itself. Perception theory plays with “figure-ground” (as does camouflage), where the viewer sees what they see until they see differently.
What we do not see in Rodriguez’s portraits, or any portraits for that matter, is the private person, the persona stripped of social codes for public consumption. When we are asked to “smile” for a picture, the smile, the stance and the presentation of self to others changes, in a sense to a different performance, the moment after the photograph is taken another performance takes it place, the smile ceases to be. It is similar to people smiling at others and when they turn the face goes sterile to a new mask, another projected false persona which may be closer to the non-public one.
What we do see in Rodriguez’s street portraits is first, a collection of public presentations of the self. Second, a dialog between the subject and Rodriguez in the form of trust and importance, and lastly, the intentions and decisions made by both Rodriguez and her subjects. I refer to “trust and importance” because the subjects need to trust her with their image and for many it may be their first time photographed for an exhibition and photo festival. Does Rodriguez understand the people photographed as subjects or as objects, interesting objects? Reviewing her editing process, her decisions, would reveal another layer to the exhibition. It is here that her photographed subjects lose their subjectivity, becoming images for consumption.
© Roberto Muffoletto, 2018