Dawoud Bey "Untitled #14 (Site of John Brown’s Tannery)" (2017)

The viewer is drawn to the house because it is brighter than the encircling foliage; however, the building is photographed from such a distance that it occupies only a small fraction of the image. The emphasis is on the space it takes to reach it, rather than the house itself. Thick clouds fill the sky, with one small parting directly above the house, the edges of which are lit by a bright spot of light as if from a full moon that would peek out if a breeze were to pull the clouds past. The camera angle is low, creating the sensation that the photographer was crouched or lying on his belly to capture the home of abolitionist John Brown, much how people seeking freedom on the Underground Railroad may have lay waiting at a distance for the sun to fall lower before emerging into open spaces.
Dawoud Bey's "Untitled #14 (Site of John Brown’s Tannery)" (2017) is on view in "Going Dark: The Contemporary Figure at the Edge of Visibility."
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Beautiful