August 3 – September 2, 1989
“I want to photograph the considerable ceremonies of our present. These are our symptoms and monuments. I want to save them, for what is ceremonious and curious and commonplace will be legendary.” -Diane Arbus, from her 1963 Guggenheim application.
Arbus’ lyrical statement is a template for the fine-art documentary aesthetic, which I aspire to. I identify as a street photographer, working intuitively in unassigned or ‘found’ situations. The result can generate a tension between image and reality, unique to the nature of the medium.
Lawrence Shlim, American, born 1954