Duane Michals
This Photograph is My Proof
1967
gelatin silver print with hand-applied text
sheet 27.94 × 35.56 cm
image 16.98 × 25.24 cm
This photographic work of Duane Michals sat on my desk
as a postcard for years.
The text beneath the photo reads:
“This photograph is my proof. There
was that afternoon, when things were still good between us, and she embraced
me, and we were so happy. It did happen. She did love me. Look, see for
yourself!” USA, 1967
However, this photo proves absolutely nothing; it merely suggests. The
combination of image and text shows what the photo alone cannot say, and at the
same time, the work calls into question the reliability of the photographic
image.
In the spring of 1983, as a young art student, I
visited the exhibition Kunst mit Photographie at the Nationalgalerie in Berlin.
In retrospect, this is one of the most influential exhibitions I have ever
visited. The artworks prompted my decision to use photography as my primary
medium.
It was there that I also saw work by Duane Michals (1932-2026) for the first
time. In his work, which is always light in tone and full of wonder about the
world, he explored the mysteries of memory, desire, mortality and the invisible
dimensions of human experience in various ways. Dreams, spirituality, and
sexuality also recurred frequently. He liked to use sequences, but it is
primarily his black-and-white photographs combined with handwritten texts that
have inspired me.
Early in my
career, I caused something of a stir with large black-and-white photographs
onto which I painted words or short phrases in color, an intervention that
radically altered how the photographs were read.
I still work
at the intersection of photography and language. Nowadays I call my method
subjective data knitting. I use exclusively my own data, as it concerns photos
from my own photo archive that I put through a digital shredder. In the void
left behind by a disintegrated photo, a kind of infinite depth
emerges, a poetic space in which words and fragments of text can surface. The
words I use come from everywhere and nowhere. They emphasize the fragmented
information that floods us daily or that manifests itself when a memory
suddenly comes to life. It is information that triggers something but is not
knowledge or proof of anything.
Through this method, the notions of place and time of the original photograph
disappear completely. The still recognizable fragments of the photo and the
words seem to search collectively for how feeling, time, doubt, and memories
can give voice to the invisible. By breaking open photographs and welcoming
words, an ocean full of possibilities emerges for new constructions of
realities.
Although my work has gradually become more abstract,
the influence of Duane Michals is still present. Each of us, in our own way and
often through the
addition of language, undermines the assumption that a photograph can
capture a shared reality.
Korrie
Besems, 2026
Korrie Besems (NL)
where echoes drown #4
2025
inkjet on Hahnemuhle Rag Bright White
various sizes
www.korriebesems.nl
