Allan Sekula

Image Information
Creator	Sekula, Allan
Title	Dead Letter Office: Lobbyists son at the Republican National Convention, San Diego
Date	1997
Material	Ilfachrome diptych
Measurements	27 x 38 in
Description	Edition of 5
Subject	Photography--20th C. A.D Lobbyists Documentary Photography Republican National Convention Exploitation Portaits--Male Body art Political art Pools
ARTstor Collection	ARTstor Slide Gallery
Source	Data From: University of California, San Diego
Download Size	1024,1024 I did a search for 20th c. documentary photography and I found a lot of surprising things. I wanted to look at more "recent" documentary work. This image is by Allen Sekula  He is  an artist, writer and critic and his main subject is photography. This photo seems unconventional for how I am used to thinking about  documentary photography. Its a color photo, the subject matter is vague. There are not a lot of clues as to the location or the reason for being there. It illustrates how important the accompanying text can be. One thing that sets this image apart from a vacation snap shot is that the Lobbyist's son has a very confrontational stance. Body Art is listed in the subject matter but it looks like an average tatoo and it is not obvious what the tattoo displays. One of the subjects given to this photo is "exploitation" which is interesting. PS. on a closer inspection I see that the tattoo is the GOP Logo of the elephant!!