This past Saturday, when I came home from the MFA Thesis Show, I was shocked to find out that Andrew Thompson, one of my portraits subjects had written a review of the show he never visited, of work he never saw in person, two days before the show actually opened.
But as I soon realized, it wasn't a review by any means, but a personal attack and a rather underhanded one at that. As I explain in my response to the article (also posted here), Andrew never expressed discomfort or displeasure with my work until he made his feelings public in the citypaper article. Wouldn't this whole thing have been avoided had he approached me and request that I remove his image from my series?
Only, Thompson didn't wish to avoid any drama- he strived to create it actually, to fabricate a more sensational story in his efforts to break into the art scene. Thompson essentially proved that he is what he accused me of making him look like: weak.
My response:
I have several points I'd like to make in response to Andrew Thompson's article on his experience as a sitter for my thesis work [Arts, "Sick Like Me," May 14, 2009]. Andrew responded to a Craigslist ad I posted asking for volunteers for my series of portraits on people with mental health conditions and providing a link to a gallery of examples of such portraits (evinumen.com/section/67902.html). After having seen my work including the series of portraits in question, Thompson sent me an e-mail saying, "I wouldn't mind being photographed for your project." One might wonder why he approached me to be included in my project if he didn't like my previous work, and didn't agree with how the portraits were done.
Furthermore, if he didn't agree with how the actual photo shoot took place, he wasn't obliged to sign the model release form. Even after having signed it, if he found himself feeling uncomfortable with a stark depiction, he could have made a request and I would gladly have removed his image from my project and the exhibition. Instead, when I asked him if he wanted to be included in the thesis show, if it would help the article he was writing about me, he requested that I include his portrait. Suffice it to say, I feel manipulated, as it is clear to me now that his motives had more to do with fabricating an angle for a story than helping an artist with her project.
Despite what Thompson writes, I don't have a single image of him smiling. In fact, I remarked upon the fact that in the 36 frames I have of his portrait, his expression remained disturbingly unchanged. My posing instructions ("relax your face") were geared toward getting a different expression from him, rather than making him look sick or weak. That said, this particular series of portraits is not meant to be flattering or resemble smiling yearbook images, but to depict the turmoil that all of us experience in the face of adversity. Thompson fails to mention that I have included my self-portrait in this project, putting myself in the same position as my other sitters.
Moreover, I was rather shocked by the fact that Thompson wrote his article without ever having seen the work in person. Printed 30 by 40 inches and hung higher than eye level, the portraits loom over the viewer, reversing the power relations that usually exist between the depicted and the beholder. I would be hard-pressed to find anyone looking "helplessly weak" in this presentation. On the contrary, the sitters look self-sufficient, confident yet honest, and perhaps vulnerably human. I'm not a therapist by any means, but I would suggest that the article is hardly about the work and more about Thompson's own self-image as a mental health sufferer. Thompson, like all the other sitters, agreed to be part of this project knowing full well what it entailed, and he should take responsibility for his own actions.
Finally, it is regrettable that the PennDesign MFA Thesis Show was misrepresented in this way. I wish that a proper review might be written by someone who has actually visited the show, to be fair to both myself and the other artists participating.
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