What kind of image is this? Is it a found image or created by the ethnographer (or a combination)? What is notable about its composition | scale of attention | aesthetic?

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Tim Schütz's picture
March 1, 2020

The source of the image is not clear, but it might be a photograph taken by the ethnographer. It depicts a sheet of red paper, pasted onto a pole. The photo is taken in a way that the main text is visible, but the background is out of scope. Since it was likely taken at night, it made me imagine an active red light red-light district around (maybe it's just the red paper...). Or maybe there is nothing special around, because it's a prostitution free zone. Either way, the image has a certain allure, forcing the viewer to imagine what the surroundings look like.

The rather sharp flash that illuminates the sheet, together with the authoritative tone of the rules reminded me of a police interrogation, or a stop and frisk of a subject during the night, where officers purposefully blind and irritate their subject with flashlights for intimidation. There might be more room to play with that effect in your image.

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Isabelle Soifer's picture
February 28, 2020

It is unclear whether the ethnographer took the photograph or found it. The notable factors are the specific times/days listed on the sign, the color of the sign (pink), the specific boundaries listed, the fact that the photo appears to have been taken at night. All of these factors convey an eerie feel to the photo, one that has the potential for propagating horrific violence against certain grousp of people based on race, class, sex, and gender. The policization of sex/gender in a very particular space convey a sense of suffocating regulation of sexuality that is indicative of the broader social perspectives of heteronormative values and belief systems surrounding the area.

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