Nina Berman’s portrait of Ty Ziegel and Renee Kline (left, click to enlarge) has just ended a short stint on the walls at Jen Bekman in New York City as part of the most recent installment of the “Hey, Hot Shot!” competition. At first I felt the inclusion of this image in the popular quarterly contest seemed totally wrong. Here was an image that had already received widespread exposure and accolades finding its way into a show that was usually home to as-yet-unknown or emerging photographers. It also felt strictly photojournalistic and Berman had shot it while on assignment for People magazine – an odd choice for an art gallery.

But beyond all that was my trouble with the continued exposure of this portrait and the couple in it. I have felt since I first saw the image that it is extremely emotionally manipulative. To stir the viewers heart the photo relies on an instant visual judgment of the appearance of two surfaces – specifically Ty’s scarred head (injured when an Iraqi suicide bomber detonated himself nearby) and Renee’s shocked and overwhelmed face. It’s a sliver of time that many might be inclined to read as a complete synopsis of the challenges and struggles Ty and Renee’s relationship and, worse, as a beautiful young woman’s heartbreak upon realizing that this is not what she agreed to. Of course, none of this is “true” – it is fiction of my mind.

It troubles me that this fiction, rendered through a factual medium (photography) is then distributed as a fact via channels we rely on for information (news media). The portrait is most often presented by itself, outside the context of Berman’s larger “Marine Wedding” series, as it was when awarded 1st Prize for a single portrait by World Press Photo earlier this year. Now, do’t get me wrong – it is a powerful photograph and worth lauding, but not for it’s ability to accurately portray the couples emotional state or even the events of their wedding day. Berman likely never wanted the image to do any of these things, and in interviews makes it clear that she realizes this:

Salon.com: Some people have asked whether the expression was just some kind of fluke, whether it might have been unrelated to the wedding or Ty’s disability –

Berman: Yes, you can say, “She was exhausted,” or “They were hung over” — they were — or “They just wanted to get this over with and get out of there so they could have fun.” That’s part of it too. But that’s not what makes pictures interesting. What makes pictures interesting is that they provide the space for the viewers to contemplate.

From The Face of War, Salon.com, March 10, 2007

So after some sustained thought and attempts to untangle all the threads, I’ve arrived at the conclusion that the walls of Jen Bekman – or any art gallery – are an ideal place for this image. By stripping it of its journalism status and re-envisioning it as art, the image is converted to an aesthetic object capable of multiple meanings. Thus, the art gallery is the perfect home for a photograph this loaded – the gallery being a space for re-interpretations of reality, not beholden to the weight of truth telling ideally found in “the news.” This photograph is simply a moment, a record of the light absorbed and reflected by surfaces, to be contemplated instead of believed, to inspire interpretation, not replace it. We need photojournalism, to assist us in interpreting our world, but we can also benefit from standing back a bit, and contemplating our interpretations.