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A review by the1germ
Self-Portrait With Boy by Rachel Lyon
5.0
Set in the late 80’s, Lu is a struggling photographer in a rapidly gentrifying artist neighborhood in New York City. While she’s working three jobs, and the building she’s living in is condemned, she hones her craft with a project: A self portrait photograph, every day. It becomes a routine she almost sleep walks through, until the day she shot Self-Portrait #400.
For her 400th self-portrait, she frames herself against the window overlooking the city from her condemned apartment with a breathtaking view. She sets the timer, climbs up the side, and leaps across. When it’s developed, she’s shocked at what she finds in the background: the body of her upstairs neighbor’s son, falling to his death just outside her window.
It’s the best photograph she’s ever taken. A “happy accident” so powerful it could change her life. A career making photograph. It’s the biggest opportunity she’s ever been given. The question is: should she take it?
Self-Portrait With Boy is a haunting exploration of morality vs a desperate artist’s ambition, and the selfishness of the capitalistic elite. How far is too far, in the name of content? What becomes of a person that steals and profits off of another person’s tragedy? What does it make of us, the consumer? Is it worth it, if it saves just one life?
Though it’s set in the 80’s, I found it incredibly relevant and left with a lot to think about.
For her 400th self-portrait, she frames herself against the window overlooking the city from her condemned apartment with a breathtaking view. She sets the timer, climbs up the side, and leaps across. When it’s developed, she’s shocked at what she finds in the background: the body of her upstairs neighbor’s son, falling to his death just outside her window.
It’s the best photograph she’s ever taken. A “happy accident” so powerful it could change her life. A career making photograph. It’s the biggest opportunity she’s ever been given. The question is: should she take it?
Self-Portrait With Boy is a haunting exploration of morality vs a desperate artist’s ambition, and the selfishness of the capitalistic elite. How far is too far, in the name of content? What becomes of a person that steals and profits off of another person’s tragedy? What does it make of us, the consumer? Is it worth it, if it saves just one life?
Though it’s set in the 80’s, I found it incredibly relevant and left with a lot to think about.