Intuit Gallery: Other People’s Pictures

Tonight, I met up with a few folks at Intuit Gallery to see a documentary called Other People’s Pictures.

Ben and I headed over there after work, and met up with Chelsea, Anne and Michelle. Prior to the show, we wandered around the main gallery area, taking in an exhibit called Accidental Mysteries – found photographs by anonymous amateurs.

A lot of what I saw tonight reminded me of the last time I was here at Intuit – attending a Found Magazine show. Similar themes I guess, of accidental discovery, voyeurism, and how seemingly insignificant things can hold a great deal of meaning.

Ben had heard a bit about the gallery exhibit, and pointed me to a few choice photographs. With each one, you could get lost in the details – as though, the more you looked, the more you could discern about the story happening right at that moment.

View of the crowd, prior to the movie. If you get a chance, totally catch this movie.

I figured, the overall arc of it would be… oh wow, these people are weird… oh wow, that’s interesting how they describe the process… oh wow, that’s pretty cool. Seemed like a standard formula. But what ended up happening was that this process occurred multiple times.

Each time someone new was shown, they’d talk about what they were into (collecting photos of nazis, collecting homo-erotic photos from the 1930’s). And each time, I’d think “My GOD, you’re a total freak.” And then… as the described the why’s, and what they were looking for, and what these photos meant to them… my entire view changed.

The entire movie is about people who collect photographs, typically from flea markets. But the big thing is that these photographs are from strangers, from people they don’t know.

One woman took the filmmakers into her house, and there were framed photos along the walls and mantle. She was shown digging through her closet, and there were a TON of small boxes, stacked three or four high, and maybe two deep. Each one contained maybe 1,000 photos. She began sorting through one box, saying “I know it’s in here, somewhere…” and she looked a little crazy.

Finally, she finds the three photos she was looking for. She shows the camera three images of a young child with Down Syndrome, and mentions that during the early part of this century… kids with Down Syndrome were often not considered part of the family, and sent to mental institutions.

The woman mentioned that she works with adults with learning disabilities, and can easily pick up certain facial features associated with Down Syndrome. These photographs showed a happy kid, at play and in the yard. This kid, according to the woman, was lucky and had a good childhood.

According to her, Down Syndrome has been with us since long before this century. And yet, there are so few early photographs of people (kids in particular) with Down Syndrome. Where are those photos, she asked the camera. Where are those people?

The entire film was filled with moments like this. At first, the people seem totally nutso and eccentric and overboard. But then, as they explain the reasons behind their collections (and borderline obsession), you begin to see a bit of what the see.

It was a cool experience, watching this documentary. The directors did a good job playing with the quirkiness of their subjects, and revealing the hidden motives behind what drives each collector. Definitely try to check this film out if you get the chance.