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Gil Alroy
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| Opened |
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18.8.2009 |
| Closed |
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25.8.2009 |
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“Can We Watch TV?”
In the documentary photographs presented in this exhibition, three little girls are watching television. From the scene of the action – their parents’ double bed – either sitting, lying down, or jumping, their gaze is focused on a high and unseen spot: the TV set that is always outside the frame. Like the unseen screen the photographer, too, is absent-present. Only we can see him seeing them seeing something else.
Removal of the TV set, as an object, to beyond the space of the photograph leaves the naked look at the heart of the matter: not only the constant watching of the unseen screen, but also the photographer’s stolen glance and that of the visitor to the exhibition, observing the girls who are unaware of their documentation. What is more real, more cultural, of greater value? Watching the television, the children or the exhibition? Which look is acceptable to us and which will we reject? The camera observing the look and fascinated by it, reveals the irony underlying our scale of approval.
“Can we watch TV?” This frequent request is a conditioned plea, a response to parents’ conditioned negation of television. In contrast the photographer identifies with the aesthetic, unquenchable, and thus immoral need of the childish look. Is not the panorama seen on the TV screen at least as wonderful as the subjects of the photograph which now satisfy our own observation?
Tal Frenkel Alroy
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Gil Alroy
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Gil Alroy
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Gil Alroy
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Gil Alroy
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