Photography and Cinema

(sharon) #1
Theimageslookatfirstlikeleftovers,thoseframesshotswiftlyand

carelesslytocompletearolloffilm.Yet,farfrombeinganalienatedwork

aboutalienation,theconsistencyofMoriyama’stone,sustainedacross 300

pages,speaksofaconcentratedandfocusedefforttoexpressincoherence.

Alsoin 1972 RobertFrankreturnedtopublishingwithascrapbook

offramesequencesandphotos.The Lines of My Handwasonceagain

aresponsetoaninabilitytomakelifeaddup(NorthAmerica’sand

hisown).Noattemptatavisualargumentismadethistime.Instead,

heproducedabookfullofconfessionalregrets,secondthoughtsand

disassembledbitsandpieces.Ontheopeningspreadloomgrainyfilm

framesofastarkhumaneyesuperimposedonableaklandscape.Beside

themhewrote:‘Twenty-fiveyearsoflookingfortherightroad.Postcards

fromeverywhere.IfthereareanyanswersIhavelostthem.’^36 Thetone

andstyleofThe Lines of My Handhavesincebecomewidespreadin

photographicpublicationsandexhibitions,visualshorthandforragged

outsiderism.Thehalf-cinematic,half-photographicdiaryhasgrowninto

aflexiblegenreofitsownthroughtheworkofphotographerssuchas

LarryClark,NobuyoshiAraki,JimGoldberg,DannyLyon,Wolfgang

TillmansandRinkoKawauchi.^37

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71 Opening page spread from
Robert Frank,The Lines of My Hand
(New York, 1972).
Free download pdf