"Storytelling reveals meaning without committing the error of defining it"
- Hannah Arendt
Last Wednesday evening I a bit of good fortune fell down on me, along with the rain, while strolling about Georgetown (DC). I stumble upon this image by photographer, Monica Szczupider - which has become cyber-viral in the last couple weeks after appearing in the current, November, issue of National Geographic. Fortune measured about 24x36 inches. The print was part of the photo festival DC Foto Week going on across Washington DC this week. To see this image first large was unbelievable serendipity. While the pages of NG would have been fine, seeing it large on a wall in a gallery was perfect - the mind and eyes were in full exercise mode, ready for exposure to new, delighted to be surprised and forced to reconsider. Large - the image gives you space to contemplate it - those faces behind the fence become personal, they etch their expressions deep into your planetary perspective of what it means to be a species. You find yourself stepping slowly face to face, expression to expression.
In my career I have come across few images, maybe two or three, that I wish I had created - this is one. Beautifully done Monica.
