Bobby
Artist
Christine Breslin
(b. 1948)
Date2000
MediumGelatin silver print from Polaroid negative
Dimensions22.75 x 18 in.
ClassificationsPhotograph
Credit LineGift of the Artist
Object number2007.74
Description"Bobby" belongs to a series on adolescent boys that Breslin began in the late 1990s. Fascinated and moved by the growth, physical changes, and emotional distancing of her son, she began a project of annual documentation of him and eight of his male friends from early adolescence through high school. Her purpose was to capture the subtleties of their physical and emotional changes as, bit by bit, they acquired the masks of adult masculinity and yet tried to remain true to their feelings, as urged by their parents and present popular culture. As she says, "Larger than life, these black and white portraits at once seem vulnerable and spiritual. This scale echoes the psychic impact of being an adolescent boy in today's society. The gritty edges of the film create the image's own mat; the quality of the negatives creates a light from within each subject."(1) In keeping with her goals, the figure in "Bobby" offers multiple and contradictory impressions. His display of chains and tattoo are presumably fashion statements connecting him to a group of other males. Rejecting the normally mandatory mask of happiness, he does not smile, distancing the image from standard portraits or casual photographs. Breslin seeks the "real" in him. Looking directly at the camera, he offers his face in all its youth and innocence. His body, on the other hand, closes in on itself, barricaded by an arm crossing before our eyes. Careful adjustments of lighting produce high contrasts, presenting part of his face in full light and the other half in shadow. This young man's story does not become clear to most of us and it probably was not clear to him either at the time the portrait was made. It is an intricate statement about the nebulous process of becoming.
1. Correspondence, September 2003, NBMAA archives
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