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Renowned Photographer Joel-Peter Witkin Visits UGA

by Emily Karol
04/05/2009

Dark shadows lined the walls and filled the recesses in Lamar Dodd’s main auditorium at the University of Georgia Tuesday. As the shadows started to murmur and quiver with anticipation, the booming Brooklyn vibrato of Joel-Peter Witkin moved them to stillness.

“I’m here to convey the human spirit’s victory over the unbearable,” said Witkin, a renowned contemporary photographer.

Witkin’s appearance at the University of Georgia was facilitated by the visiting artist series at Lamar Dodd, the university’s art school. He came to Athens to speak to students, faculty and the community about his work including the time and consideration it took to produce the graphic photos.

“His work is stimulating and complex,” said audience member Jean-Ann Davidson, a resident of Athens.

Witkin’s reputation has taken his work all over the world, including some of the most revered museums and galleries such as the Guggenheim and Galerie Baudoin Lebon in Paris. Extending over 50 years, Witkin has produced images of history while conveying messages about modern society.

On the surface, Witkin’s work is graphic, horrifying, and even a little repulsive. While Witkin’s use of cadavers, severed limbs and deformities expels shock from the approximately 150 viewers in attendance, it is hard to look away. As the image sinks in the historical, allegorical, and cultural implications of his work take hold.

“My goal is to record the meaning and history of existence,” said Witkin.

Witkin has reproduced and reinterpreted such works as Diego Velazquez’s “Las Meninas” into an elegantly gruesome portrayal of an artist’s role in the modern society using cadavers and severed limbs as well as a bleak but bustling background. Witkin also plays with satire to convey his opinion about society in “Feast of Fools” in which he has limbs and food interspersed with each other.

“It’s human history. Things have to be made to show what’s going on in society,” Witkin said.

Witkin’s fascination and even disgust with society and the graphic way in which he conveys these opinions began at an early age. Born in 1939 in Brooklyn, New York, Witkin witnessed a horrifying car accident in which a young girl was decapitated in front of him.

Witkin then became fascinated with the “misfits” and atrocities of society, reading about odd cases in newspapers frequently. In the early 1960’s Witkin became an army photographer in the Vietnam War, capturing soldiers’ suicides and training accidents.

In one of his contemporary images, Witkin photographs an unidentified, decapitated cadaver sitting upright in a chair. As soon as the projector clicked to the slide, there was a collective gasp. However, after letting the photo sink in a little longer, small details such as his socks make the image seem more humane.

“The socks on this naked, decapitated man’s feet take out the horror,” said Witkin. “It’s the idea that he needs the socks to keep his body warm.”

After the Vietnam War, Witkin went on to attend Cooper Union School of Art for sculpture and then attained his graduate degree in photography from the University of New Mexico. Witkin has traveled the world, photographing subjects in such places as Paris, Mexico and Estonia. In every place he travels he incorporates the cultural aspects of the region into his works using native subjects and design.

“He is direct and honest in his work and how he explains it,” said Stacy Kauffman, Associate professor at the Gainesville State University.

Witkin delved heavily into the mechanics of his work and the fusion of new and old. Witkin’s photos incorporate both the traditional style of printing using a dark room and chemical agents while also using modern technology to retouch the image.

“I really enjoyed how he explained the processes and experimenting with chemistry,” said sophomore photography student Sarah Scaduto. “It was also nice to hear that sometimes his experiments didn’t turn out too.”

To many people’s surprise, Witkin condones the use of modern technology in fine art photography, even though his images have a more historical quality to them.

“The use of digital work is just another tool,” said Witkin. “There’s a concern with design, meticulousness to producing a picture that requires all the tools you have.”

On the surface, Witkin seems like a rambunctious, silver-tongued native of Brooklyn, but delving deeper through his works appears a man with a message and a unique approach to doing so.

“My big ambition is to be a part of visual history. I want to capture the emotions of the soul and the passions of death,” said Witkin. “I guess I have pretty lofty goals for myself.”