SAGErcize 1993

Curator: Nancy Andrews’ 1993 gelatin-silver print, titled "SAGErcize", throws us into a strikingly contrasted scene. Editor: It’s pretty stark, right? The light is dramatic. Like a spotlight is shining on… well, what I initially thought were supplicants but now I see it’s people stretching in an exercise class! There's something quite touching, almost defiant, in these elderly figures reaching for the light. Curator: Andrews often investigates communal rituals and aging, so this checks out. Formally, observe the arrangement of bodies—they are both isolated and unified by the act of reaching. It strikes me as classical, but also off-kilter and strange. Editor: Yes, that asymmetry—the one man with his arm lower than the others. Is it weakness, or simply individuality? And there’s also the question of authenticity, you know? It is what it is; a bunch of old folks at the local gym in their shorts… or something staged. But the starkness of the composition is compelling and I have so many questions about context! Curator: Well, Andrews made quite a bit of work related to groups of elder citizens doing everyday things and how that looked for women especially. Perhaps these are ordinary people finding a sort of… power, a shared strength in their aging bodies in the ordinary context of a senior workout. Editor: It feels somehow subversive, looking at it that way! And then there's the medium—the monochrome photography— which removes it a bit from pure documentary into art-with-a-capital-A, giving us this study of form as well as social commentary. Curator: Right. That starkness heightens everything; shadow and form do the talking here. The bodies and floor create the primary interest. And the realism offers it something like a deep truth, not manipulated. That truth gives it punch! Editor: Looking again, I really feel something. These ordinary bodies doing mundane exercises – they transcend the image! Maybe Andrews found an epic within this everyday ritual after all. Curator: Perhaps, and the power of photography lies right there, in the moment where the every day rises into significance.