Boyfriends Fighting Possibly 1987 - 1994

Jim Goldberg made this photograph of "Boyfriends Fighting" sometime in the last century. The grainy black and white gives it a harsh, immediate feel, as if the camera is just another witness on the street. The composition is what grabs me, though. The top boyfriend is straddling the bottom one, pinning him to the concrete. The dark shadows eating into the bottom of the frame. Are they fighting or just fooling around? Goldberg doesn't give us an easy answer. I'm drawn to the way the light catches on their skin, the sweat, the desperation. It’s an image of intimacy and violence tangled together. The high contrast reminds me of Robert Frank's "The Americans," that raw, unapologetic look at life. Ultimately, Goldberg’s photograph is a reminder that art doesn't have to be pretty. It can be messy, uncomfortable, and real, just like life.