Sunday, October 20, 2013

Sarah Retchin--Hannah Price



Price, a 2009 graduate of Rochester Institute for Technology is originally from Fort Collins, Colorado and is primarily photographically interested in American minorities. Her series, City of Brotherly Love, features portraits of men in Philadelphia captured just moments after they harassed her on the street. After moving to Philadelphia in 2009, a much larger city than her hometown, she experienced getting catcalled, something that she hadn’t had to deal with in Colorado. Instead of shying away from the attention, she turned it right back on her aggressors with her lens.

Because there isn’t much context provided in her photos, they leave a lot to the viewer’s imagination. For me, it’s difficult to tell if the stories enlighten photography that can stand on its own, or if they're just a crutch for some sociological study. I am, however, hooked by the story, and I think the photos construct a visual, which is compelling as a whole.

Price says that taking photographs of the "catcallers" was a way to address and confront the people who catcalled her. "I'm in the photograph, but I'm not. Just turning the photograph on them kind of gives them a feel of what it's like to be in a vulnerable position — it's just a different dynamic," Price says. "But it's just another way of dealing with the experience, of trying to understand it."




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