Jenelle on Sequel at REM

Hey all, I haven’t had too much of a chance to go see some photography, but I did go see one show at REM gallery (now located on Park Ave. off McCullough) called Sequel. The image on the flyer was intriguing and I really wanted to see it. It seemed simple enough, for example, it’s a woman seen from the back holding a shiny bag in front of a steel wall. The way that the light reflects off of the steel wall creates this even line across the center of the image that silhouettes the figure. Visually the contrast is what caught my attention. Horizontal lines seem to create a sense of harmony in an image, especially when the line is in the center of the picture. However, I must admit my disappointment when I saw only one in the gallery like it. The lone print was a small one and sold, but I wanted to see a whole series of them, not just one.
I didn’t get any images of the other work up in the same show, but they were unrelated to the one above. I really didn’t know what the concept of the show was as a whole. Other images made a comment towards 9/11. For example, there were two images, 8x10, with a section of a building filling up the frame with vertical lines and windows. Within this were tiny specs which, when seen up close, were actual people who jumped out of the towers. I realize now that explaining this in words sounds a little more powerful than the images in front of me. They seemed so deadpan; no emotion was conjured up even though the subject was intense. The people falling were so small that one couldn’t see any expression, just a faint shape of human figures falling. There was no smoke or fire anywhere in the frame. I don’t know what the artist was trying to say because I didn’t see any artist statement (maybe I walked past it?). It is possible that the artist purposely didn’t want any horrendous scene of fire and terror. Maybe they just wanted a simple and small glimpse at a huge, historic occurrence. But I’m just making that up to try to make sense of it all. If anybody else goes to see the show, you should let me know what you think.