What transcends

I came across a quote from the incredible American photographer Walker Evans that talks about a time of ‘millions’ of photographs being taken all the time and ‘they don’t transcend anything’. This quote was made in 1971 interview (see the full transcript here), I shudder to think of the now trillions of photographs being made and how the quote still stacks up in our modern age.

It made me think about how a photograph is able to transcend and become something more than an action that has permanency. When does it become art, when does it have the ability to make you pause, think, reflect or stir something more in you that makes you feel something other than recognition. Who dictates this, is it the viewer and then viewers on masse having a collective experience that ultimately gives rise to it being thought of as more than an object?

I think this is the case - the collective makes a decision. I can feel feel my work says more, does more. However this is just for me, if there are only a few others that feel the same is it art? If it is just me is it art?

‘There are millions of photographs made all the time, and they don’t transcend anything and thy’re not anything. In this sense, photography is a very difficult art, and probably depends on a gift, an unconscious gift sometimes, an extreme talent.” Walker Evans

Purpose