Jack Picone # 10 "Brothers."
© Photograph by Jack Picone
Amish boys (brothers) return home on a winters morning after attending a prayer service. Upper State New York, U.S.A.
Masculinity as conformity, and vulnerability in cultural as well as natural cycles of growth and maturity - rather than the old idea of evolutionary progression that immediately comes to mind on seeing the line up of the 'ascending' kids - so much to see in this wonderful shot, Jack. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteInsightful and wonderful interpretation Efi. Thank you! The frame before and after are a compositionally disaster. When I first saw it I couldn't decide if it was a cliché or not? I have come to enjoy it because in some way it chronological. It also reminds me (a little) of notes on a sheet of music.
ReplyDeleteno, not trite, Jack :) I know what you mean about being undecided, but the details of this photograph, in particular, the view of the boys' feet disappearing, as if they are sinking into the earth in the same order in which they ascend is like a lyrical evocation of the grave, inescapably underfoot as they grow into men. I really like your idea of them as musical notes - it's a lyrical, moving photo.
Deletemusical notes.... wonderful!
ReplyDeleteThanks Efi. "the view of the boys' feet disappearing, as if they are sinking into the earth in the same order in which they ascend is like a lyrical evocation of the grave, inescapably underfoot as they grow into men." Love this.
ReplyDeleteand I hope that the poem might not be irrelevant to the discussion ---
ReplyDelete10
vaudeville winter
the crossing from prayer
and the gadget in wait
strung staved
like the crow family's youngest
making a way against the cold
putting on pace
and in ancestral light
see here the years between
they will marry in the faith
blessings! there will be many more
they are propelled by prayer
will wind have these hats away?
there is submission, letting-be
there is no pride
there is a straightness to the angle
they're funeral-suited otherwise
and the gadget in wait
takes them like this
it's of the world
that can't be trusted
they're shot from the back
just like that