The two people in this photograph are named Jill and Polly. What are they wearing? Where are they? What do you think the relationship is between the two people?
This image, "Jill and Polly in the Bathroom," was created by Tina Barney, a photographer who uses her family members and friends as the subjects of all of her pictures.
Jill, to the left in the photo, is Barney's sister. Polly, on the right, is Jill's daughter and Barney's niece.
Barney says that one of her favorite pastimes while waiting in airports is "to try and figure out the relationships of the people walking by." Her photographs allow us to play the same guessing game. Clues include the way the people in her photographs are standing or sitting, the expressions on their faces, and the rooms in which we find them.
Even though this mother and daughter are not speaking with each other or touching, notice that they are dressed alike. The pink bathrobes, cosmetics, and wallpaper seem to be carefully matched with the flowery patterns repeated throughout the bathroom and reflected in the mirror. Does this scene show family togetherness, awkwardness, or a little of both?
To learn more about Barney and other photographers, visit the exhibition "Double Vision: Photographs from the Strauss Collection," currently at the University Art Museum, Cal State Long Beach, through March 11. For more information, call (562) 985-5761 or visit http://www.csulb.edu/~uam.
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This learning link was provided by the University Museum, California State University, Long Beach, 1250 Bellflower Blvd., Long Beach. Quotation excerpted from "Tina Barney: Photographs: Theater of Manners," Scalo Books, 1997.
