2014

The disparity in quality of life captured by Whitford in this image is captivating. To look at this image is to get the sense that this moment could happen anywhere at any time. This photograph is at the same time cheerful and melancholic, measuring the carefree nature of the women engaging with the dog against the disheartening and pleading stance of the homeless individual. The homeless figure takes on an almost religious connotation, his position not unlike that of an individual in prayer, meanwhile the women are unaffected by this pseudo-ritual. In Humanity, we want to draw parallels between human suffering and prosperity, and furthermore how some of these experiences do not touch everyone in the same manner. What might deeply affect one individual could be entirely meaningless to their neighbor–at what point, then, does human happiness or plight cross the bounds of shared experience?