Michaels

The aspect I liked most about Michaels' images and those of other artists mentioned in the article is the question of identity-- the portrait by Lex-Nerlinger titled "Seamstress" especially catching my eye. The artist's usage of two overlapping images, one of a woman concentrating hard at a sewing machine and another of a young girl. The author of the article describes the young girl in the image as happy, but I thought immediately that she look fearful of something. This could just be my interpretation, but to me the photo seems to portray a loss of emotional expression in the older woman at work. She can't, for obvious reasons, even look up from her work or do anything but concentrate on her given task. Without any expression, it's as if she lost any identity outside of being a worker. But the image of the young girl (maybe supposed to be the older woman) is used as a reminder that the woman can express, isn't just an anonymous worker, and has a past full of emotion and life.

I found this Michaels piece called "Self-Portrait As If I Were Dead" (1970), and I was really caught off-guard. Not so much that it's the same man twice, but his seemingly "alive" body seems the form most devoid of life in the image. The dark clothes, the shadows on his face and behind his body, his loom over his dead form, his expression of almost disdainful contemplation. His dead body may be lifeless, but then again, it seems like so is his alive form. If anyone else interpreted this completely differently, please feel free to share your thoughts!