Monday, March 23, 2009

Dedicated to all concerned photographers

I first read about the conceptual photographer Les Krims in the book
Criticizing Photographs: An Introduction to Understanding Images. The author, OSU professor Terry Barrett writes about Les Krims's book, published in 1972 called Making chicken soup;: A book by Les Krims which pokes fun at concerned photographers. Barrett calls Krims's book elaborate sarcasm directed at concerned photographers, who, in Krims's view, do no more than serve up placebos to make us feel better about social issues, rather than changing them, much as moms serve chicken soup to cure colds. Krims is quite the provocateur. Lewis Hyde's book Trickster Makes This World: Mischief, Myth, and Art talks about the mythical trickster. Below is a Les Krims photo from 1975. Brilliant mischief.

Les Krims,
Nude in Blackface Modeling for a Photography Workshop in a Motel Near the University of Missouri, 1975

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