of nothing less than the ghosts of the shadows of people's lives. What they've left behind after they are gone, and what they reveal while they are still alive through a series of photo peeks into the lives of the elderly beyond their windows draped with lace, is a valid direction of work that has consumed Genis, and added up to a significant body of work for this Orange County artist.
as loneliness and the culture of aging in contemporary America.
For those interested in engaging Gina Genis in a study of mesmerizing subjects,
FOCA Gallery 970 N. Broadway Suite 208, Los Angeles, California 90012.
In a show together with Mary Cecile Gee and Nigel Poor, Gina Genis exposes loss, the drive to overcome sadness and the strong motivations compelling survivors to move on.
Mnemonic Ritual looks at the uncomfortable subject of loss, mourning, and the persistent remnants of time passed. Too often the ritual passage of death and loss are shuffled along at a pace so quick, there is little time to reflect. However, artists Mary Cecile Gee, Gina Genis, and Nigel Poor reflect on the difficult moments between loss, moving on, and determined timelessness. Through their own personal rituals, the artists work through the very materials that are left behind, inherent with history and aura. Unexpected reactions of irony, humor, beauty, and even cathartic joy, are distilled from the works from very intimate, personal encounters to a broader reconciliation with social history. Curated by Grace Kook-Anderson, curator of exhibitions at Laguna Art Museum, a full-color brochure will accompany the exhibition.
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| Gina Genis posed for her solo show at Biola University. Photo By Ginger Van Hook©2012 |
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| Photo By Ginger Van Hook©2012 |
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| Photo By Ginger Van Hook©2012 |
Gina
Genis’ Window Peeping:
Redefining Intimacy and Aging in Contemporary American Culture
by Brandelyn
Dillaway, Mt. San Jacinto College
Re-Published courtesy of the artist.
Gina
Genis’ recent series of photographs, Window Peeping, captures the nocturnal
activities
of a cross-section of average American senior citizens. It was on evening walks
around
a
retirement community that Genis began to photograph interior scenes revealed
through open
windows.
These photographs were not artificially constructed images shot in a studio,
but were
spontaneously
and discreetly shot without the knowledge of the subjects. The result is a
collection
of strikingly honest images that capture people in the quiet intimacy of their
domestic
surroundings.
The implications of Genis’ artistic process, in addition to the subject matter
of each
photograph,
creates a body of work with multiple layers that does much to examine, on a
wider
level,
what intimacy and aging mean in today’s sensationalized, youth-oriented
culture. On a
more
personal level, these brief glimpses into the lives of the elderly speak to the
complex nature
of
aging - its cultural, social, familial, and biological facets.
The
act of looking has long been a point of debate among art historians when
considering
the
relationship between the viewer and a work of art. Is the viewer simply an
observer, an
uninvolved
bystander? Or does the viewer occupy a position closer to that of a voyeur, an
uninvited
outsider looking in? This theoretical quandary continues to be a gray area and
point of
debate,
but due the nature of how the Window Peeping photographs were obtained, it is
unavoidably
clear in Genis’ work. By looking into these open windows, while the occupants
inside
are caught unaware, Genis’ camera is the vehicle for the viewer’s voyeurism. In
simply
viewing
the work, the viewer is implicitly involved in this covert observation; they
too are
looking
in witnessing private moments. The viewer’s reaction to this realization will
reveal much
about
their personal boundaries in regards privacy – their own and that of others.
American
culture
has become openly voyeuristic, made tacitly permissible by a widespread
acceptance of
and
participation in social networking websites and reality based entertainment.
Personal
discretion
and an inconspicuous existence are becoming increasingly rare in a social value
system
that rewards exhibitionism and outrageousness with the promise of fame, no
matter how
fleeting.
Traditionally,
voyeurism has been a term loaded with all sorts of sexual connotations. It
has
been primarily positioned as a psychological issue that involves spying for the
purpose of
sexual
gratification. But in recent years the term has expanded to occupy a more
desexualized,
mainstream
context. The success of tabloid magazines, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and
reality
television,
to name only a few media outlets, clearly indicates that many Americans have
become
fascinated
with other people’s lives. They are interested in taking a peek inside the
lives of
others,
as a means to entertain themselves with conflict and drama that they are
personally
removed
from and not directly affected by. America’s voyeuristic culture has grown to
the extent
that
with so many willing to indiscriminately display their personal lives for all
to see, there has
become
an expectation that everyone should subscribe to such transparency.
What
makes others’ lives so fascinating, and what initially attracts the viewer to
Genis’
work,
is the natural, human tendency toward curiosity. With Window Peeping, Genis has
effectively
blurred the very fine line between voyeurism and curiosity, where it is quite
difficult
to
concretely discern whether the viewer should be considered a voyeur or simply
just an
innocent,
inquisitive observer. Much of this ambiguity surrounding the role of the viewer
stems
from
how Genis photographed her subjects. She did not photograph these people to
exploit them
or
to create shock value. They are not intended to be entertaining, artificial
constructs of “reality”
presented
for passive consumption. Rather, they are a simple and straightforward
documentation
of
the human experience at its most shared and fundamental level. Further blurring
the line
between
voyeurism and curiosity, Genis made the conscious choice of keeping each
subject
distinctly
anonymous, with intentionally distorted faces or careful angles that slightly
obscure
faces
behind blinds or window panes. The works are not narrative pieces about the
individuals in
the
photographs. Instead they are about the spaces in which they live, the
activities in which they
are
engaged, the lives that they lead – the work is about the human condition in
general.
Similar
to voyeurism, intimacy has been a term that, in the past, has had sexual
connotations.
But shifts in social mores and values, driven primarily by mass media, have
resulted
in the repositioning of the concept of intimacy. Entertainment, publications,
music, and
video
games are rife with content that has made sexuality and sexual activity
mainstream and
commonplace,
almost to the point of being banal. Activities and topics once considered
personal/
controversial/taboo,
and therefore intimate, are no longer special or private. Instead, they have
become
an unfortunate thread in the fabric of daily existence. From this, intimacy has
become
the
rare moment of capturing someone’s true self, not their artificial self
presented for public
display.
The new intimacy is being able to simply transcend the fake and ostentatious.
In a world
where
a constructed reality dominates as entertainment and communication, the real
has now
become
intimate.
This
new type of intimacy is seen in Genis’ Window Peeping. The face of each subject
is
distorted
because the viewer is not intended to look at the person in terms of their
physical
characteristics.
Instead, their whole existence is laid bare, which makes these works much more
intimate.
The viewer is presented with a clear picture of who these people truly are
through their
interior
décor and their personal activities set in a private, domestic space where
there are no
pretenses
or false personas. The intimacy of their quiet existence is also felt through
proximity,
achieved
with a close vantage point, tight cropping and framing by the exterior
architecture.
When
looking at the intimate domestic scenes of Window Peeping, the viewer must, to
some
extent, acknowledge what exactly these photographs capture. For in a clear,
matter-of-fact
way,
Genis’ work exposes some essential truths about the human experience that many
choose to
deny
or ignore. She carefully dances around the concept of age, a very sensitive
topic despite the
fact
that it is universal and unavoidable. Her photographs capture some of the
realities of aging
with
honesty, clarity, and force. She makes it very difficult for the viewer to
emotionally detach
themselves
from the subject matter because this work is, in part, about them and the
people who
they
share their lives with, such as a parent or a grandparent. Because of the
personal nature of
the
work, each viewer will react to it differently. In looking at these works,
there may be a
realization
that life can be quite ordinary, despite romanticized expectations of what life
should
be
and how it should be lived. The viewer may be struck by a sense of tragedy, for
an almost
stifling
loneliness pervades these photographs. These people are alone, save for the
outdated
material
objects that surround them. Life is clearly transitory and the passage of time
is
inescapable.
In
addition to the emotional and psychological effects of coming to terms with the
inevitability
of aging, Genis’ work also says much about the ambivalent place that the
elderly
seem
to hold in today’s mainstream culture, a culture that primarily celebrates
youth. Again,
mass
media and popular modes of entertainment are responsible for this cultural
focus. Everyday
people
are bombarded with idealized manifestations of youth as they relate to beauty,
fashion,
recreation,
and lifestyles. These concepts of youth are communicated as a set of easily
read
external
factors, such as physical appearance, novelty, and vitality, which contribute
to the
formation
of oversimplified stereotypes and misrepresentations of what it means to age.
The
result
is a clear generational and cultural gap that has lead to the marginalization
of the elderly
through
the implication that those who cannot measure up to the expectations of this
fast-paced,
materialistic,
youth-based society are irrelevant or are simply left behind. Thus, aging is
misread
as
a period of decline and disengagement.
The
photographs of Window Peeping delicately affirm some of the wider cultural
views
detailed
above. In each photograph there is a distinct quality of segregation - both
physical and
emotional.
The exterior architecture of the homes strictly defines each composition,
enclosing
the
space of a brightly lit interior that starkly contrasts the dark outside space,
where the viewer
stands
looking in. This physical separation is further exaggerated by the fact that
the people
inside
appear to be trapped, imprisoned by blinds or window panes. It is as if the
truth of their
existence
confines them and they cannot escape. Some of the photographs feature multiple
living
units
directly adjacent to each other. Yet despite such close proximity, the
architecture serves as a
barrier,
suggesting that there is a limited sense of community. Further, in the majority
of the
photographs
there is a single lone person, caught in a sedentary pose. The lack of
interaction and
activity
give the works a vague sense of melancholy and isolation, suggesting an
emotional
segregation.
Gina
Genis’ Window Peeping is an important body of work because it reflects
significant
cultural
shifts in America regarding intimacy and aging. Mass media intrusiveness, which
has
been
embraced by the wider population, has dictated that conceptions of intimacy
change to
narrowly
fit within the shrinking private realm. In Window Peeping, Genis has used this
new
intimacy
to document a group of people that tends to be marginalized. The traditional
position of
the
elderly as wise and relevant heads of family is something that is growing
increasingly rare;
reverence
and respect is being replaced by obsolescence. This is especially pertinent
today as
baby
boomers become senior citizens in growing numbers. Window Peeping acutely
captures this
social,
cultural, and demographic transformation while asking the viewer to reconcile
wider
cultural
attitudes with their personal views regarding the realities and the
inevitability of aging.
References:
Bogart,
Leo. Over the Edge: How the Pursuit of Youth by Marketers and the Media Has
Changed
American Culture. Chicago: Ivan R. Dee, 2005.
Featherstone,
Mike and Andrew Wernick. Images of Aging: Cultural Representations of
Later
Life. London: Taylor and Francis Routledge, 1995.
Friedan,
Betty. The Fountain of Age. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1993.
