Pictures From Home

Larry Sultan photograph, "My Mother Posing" 1984
Larry Sultan photograph, “My Mother Posing” 1984

When you photograph someone you go for a picture of how you like seeing them. Parents tell kids where to stand, what to wear and when to smile. And then they capture their idyllic image.

One of the old newspapers we read after returning from Mexico had a familiar Larry Sultan image in it along with an article about his series, “Pictures from Home (1983–92).” Some of the images are currently on view in Chelsea and a play based on the dialog in his book of the same name is running on Broadway. The back story was so interesting to us we bought tickets and plan to travel to NYC soon. Sultan turned the tables on his parents and returned home to photograph them. He collaborated with his parents on this project capturing candid shots and staging others as a way to break down the barriers between reality and fiction. Sultan talked about “”Pictures from Home” when the photos were shown at SFMoMA.

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One Reply to “Pictures From Home”

  1. I love that series! Remember it from back in the day. My father was an avid photographer of family. He showed a series at The Century Club six or seven years back. Once he also showed me a photo me after a stint in hospital at 23. It made me cry and that one I never saw again. 😉

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