The role of the observer

When we see a photograph, it is not only the photographer’s judgement we see projected on the image; it is also our own. 

The photographer adds one layer of interpretation; then we add another—not just on the subject, but on the photographer and the photograph itself. 

The same is true of writing and any other form of art or act of creation that captures and contextualises something from real life. 

We may think a certain photographer (like, say, Bruce Gilden) is judging or exploiting his subjects... but we don’t necessarily fully understand their true intentions behind the work—maybe it’s our own judgement we’re projecting. 

Maybe photographers such as Gilden are celebrating the people in their photos, and it is us, the viewer, who is judging them. 

Just as the observer changes the state of a particle in the famous double-slit physics experiment, the viewer can change the meaning of a work of art through their act of observation.

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