Weekly Artist Prose - Adam Broomberg & Oliver Chanarin

I chose these two cuties, Adam Broomberg & Oliver Chanarin, who Jon showed me the other day. What a duo! I've specifically chosen to address one of their first series together, entitled Trust, which is a collection of human faces made in the years 1998 and 1999. I chose this work because of how simple it is, and because it is prefaced by a very interesting quip by a guy named Val Williams, whoever that is! Here is what he said on the work:

"Trust is a series of photographs made in the last two years of the twentieth century. On the surface, it is very simple. Photographs of faces made in a documentary way: real people leading real lives, aware of the camera only as an incidental, seemingly uncomplicit in the making of the photographs. Adam Broomberg and Oliver Chanarin have employed this deceptively simple methodology. They have studied the strange phenomenon of the face, pinpointed it as the centre of our beings, our primary means of expression, wondered at the changeability of this bizarre accumulation of protuberances, sockets, vastly differing surfaces of flesh. Their interest is almost ethnographic and, under their gaze, we become creatures."

I'm curious as to how these words influence your approach to the work. For me, it helps to give the work some ground, some foundation, off of which I can build however a complicated reading I want. Do you feel that this context is necessary? Maybe this isn't context as much as one guys personal view of the pictures, but then do you agree? Or no?

Also, what do you think of the decision to boldly just photograph faces? There seems to be an immensely dramatic effect in all the images stemming from the lighting, lack of a background, low POV, no eye contact (Aichy, I'm thinking of you!) etc. This dramatic element encourages narrative, especially in the shadow of the second millennium.