Alterity 2002

Geta Bratescu, made this photograph Alterity, and the title itself suggests a certain distance, or "otherness" maybe even alienation. The photograph is mostly black and white. The stark contrast gives it a timeless, almost ghostly quality. It's like looking at a memory fading at the edges, isn't it? There's a figure, back turned, almost dissolving into the background. There is a hand on the shoulder of the figure, perhaps an embrace or a gesture of comfort, but the grainy texture and deep shadows leave so much open to interpretation. The more you look at it, the more questions arise. It reminds me a little of the the psychological landscapes of someone like Louise Bourgeois. It's this quiet, insistent way of asking us to confront our own sense of self and other.