I'm Dave (scar) Possibly 1987 - 1994

Jim Goldberg made this gelatin silver print, titled *I'm Dave (scar)*, sometime after 1953. It's a photograph, so we’re dealing with a mechanical process, light hitting a chemically treated surface. But the real story here is written on Dave's body. The scar, bisecting his torso, speaks volumes about lived experience. It is a kind of brutal, involuntary craft, incised on flesh. We can consider it a collaboration between Dave and a surgeon, or perhaps something more violent, beyond the realm of consent. It's a raw, visceral material, quite different from the slick surfaces we often see in photography. The image asks us to consider how trauma shapes identity. How do such experiences inscribe themselves on the body, and what does it mean to bear witness to them? It’s a reminder that art can be found in unexpected places, and that sometimes the most powerful statements are made not with paint or clay, but with the very stuff of life.