Since the nineteenth century, modern paintings have had the power to rekindle the imagination of people and reshape how they think, and there were many famous artworks from that time, however, as the years progressed and the 20th century came, different types of artworks started to take shape, and photography brought about a lot of innovation and change. Such contemporary artworks have the power to show the many shifts that the world has gone through over the past many years.
1. Afghan Girl by Steve McCurry
Nothing describes the expression a picture is worth a thousand words better than Steve McCurry’s portrait of an Afghan girl who stares into the camera with a red headscarf and piercing green eyes. The girl in that photo is a Pashtun child, Sharbat Gula, and the intensity of the photo was so much that it became the cover of the National Geographic magazine in June 1985. But of course, that picture is more than just a cover as it represents not only Afghan refugees, but the plight of refugees all over the world, as Sharbat Gula is the victim of displacement herself, and was found by Steve McCurry in a refugee camp in Pakistan when she was forced to flee her village in eastern Nangarhar in Afghanistan because the Soviets bombed, so, she, along with her family, had to walk out of it and across the mountains to Pakistan, leaving everything behind. And such photographs that become recognizable all over the world show that they are not just about composition, but about the issues that people face on a global level and show how one single photograph can have the power to cause countless conversations that highlight present-day issues.
2. Untitled Film Stills by Cindy Sherman
Cindy Sherman came up with sixty-nine black and white photos of herself in which she expresses herself differently. She does not have any one single specific pose or clothes, or setting, but many different types of them. She faces away from the camera and uses the 1950s imagination of culture to come up with different looks that are inspired by B-movies, and where she represents all types of women working in different areas of society, such as at work, at home, or in a social gathering. There are multiple characters that she plays, multiple outfits that she wears, and multiple personas that she tries to show. She tries to show that a single woman can be everything and can be whatever she wants to be and highlights the possibility of being anyone. She challenges the perception of femininity and continues to inspire generations through the themes of finding your identity and performance.
3. Dovima with Elephants by Richard Avedon
Dovima was a well-known model of her time, Richard was a fashion photographer, and both came together to create a photograph that heavily influenced the fashion industry as in the picture, Dovima can be seen standing between elephants with her hand outstretched and in a black dress. Instead of placing her in a studio so that all the attention falls to the clothes that she is wearing, and as photographers in that era usually did, Richard broke the norm. He stepped out into a circus and placed his model between majestic animals, showing that it is possible to juxtapose two very different worlds together. One is the world glamour, with Dovima standing in a beautiful dress, looking flawless, and posing. And the other world is of wildlife creatures, with their wrinkled skins, and shows the rawness of the other world. It questions the idea of beauty, freedom of beauty art, and artistic expression as the elephants are chained up, while Dovima’s arms are outstretched elegantly reaching out to the elephant, and she screams freedom and deliberation. In this way, even though Richard Avedon was taking a photograph for a commercial project, he used these bold contrasts and his storytelling techniques to create art that is emotionally striking and leaves the audience wondering.
4. Moonlit Dreams by Peter Lik
Peter Lik was born in 1959 and claimed to have been God-gifted with the ability to have the power to control the moon and to shift the stars, time, and space to however he pleased. And so, he created photographs in which the moon, amongst other landscapes, can seem to enchant the viewers. One of these photographs was Moonlit Dreams, in which you can see a large phone in the background and a cliff that is full of trees in the front. What is so peculiar about this image is that even though it is extremely fascinating to look at, some of the things in that image just do not add up. Scientifically, it does not make sense, which makes the photograph and also other Peter Lik moon photos and works open to suspicion, and also the topic of many debates as people talk about the use of Photoshop and manipulation in imagery. The debate has been an ongoing topic, and that is how Peter Lik has managed to make a name for himself by putting himself in the spotlight and ensuring that people talk about him and his work. It is a very different example of how he used artwork to redefine photography, but also a very interesting one.
5. Rhein II by Andreas Gursky
At first glance, you may discard this picture as something bland, and a picture that you would accidentally end up taking during your holiday vacation when the weather is bad and you are feeling depressed. However, in 2011, someone bought the picture for 4 million dollars, which indicates that there is something about that picture that is missing to the normal eye. The significance of the picture lies in the fact that the Rhine is a river in Europe that has been used to transport goods and is one of the most important transportation routes in all of Europe. Because of that, it has become very industrialized and cannot flow freely because of its use by humans. When you look at the picture, you are looking at a natural landscape, i.e., a river, and there is literally no sign of human intervention, and yet, the picture feels extremely artificial, like the river is an manmade lake, as a natural river usually has bends and curves and flows along paths, but the one in the picture follows a straight line instead, and the message that the photographer wanted to show was clear and simple, which is that nature has once again become a victim of human intervention, and the control that humans have over nature makes it impossible for nature to express itself or to feel intimate, and instead, it feels cold and depressing. But the water still ripples on the surface and reminds people that they cannot be in control of everything.
Conclusion
All these photographs hold a lot of power, and show people the change that comes with evolving eras and roles, and are also an indicator of how the camera has managed to capture the imagination of people and is actually like a brush of an artist rather than just a mechanical device that will be replaced by something else in the future. As technology advances even more, you can only expect the power of the camera to grow and push limits that are beyond imagination.