Intimate Subjects

Every parent thinks that his or her little snot-nosed brat has the artistic talent of da Vinci, the athletic prowess of LeBron James, or the musical chops for American Idol. So can family members really be objective observers? That’s definitely an artistic dilemma facing photographer and ASU professor Betsy Schneider, who is known for showing controversial nudes of her children.

Schneider will discuss these issues and more during the “Objective Intimacy” lecture. The title of the talk is an oxymoron, according to Schneider, who says that “there is no objectivity really in photography – and yet the closer we are to the subject matter, the more intimate we are with it and the more personal it becomes.”

The event coincides with the “At the Crossroads of American Photography” exhibition of prints by Aaron Siskind, Frederick Sommer, and Harry Callahan, who used his wife as a model. “Callahan objectified his wife,” says Schneider. “But he also created a space for us to talk about love and connectedness in our photographs.”