REQUIRED VIEWING (Part 2): RFK Funeral Train
June 7, 2008
With the the 40th anniversary of Bobby Kennedy’s assassination this past Friday, The NY Times ran a feature in their weekly magazine last week about the photos that Paul Fusco took while on the train that carried his body from New York to Washington, DC. A presentation of some of the pictures with Fusco’s narration is here. The loss captured in the photos is visceral and intimately touching. The Times describes some of the photos…
A black woman kneels on the dirt, a white purse hanging from her arm, her hands locked in prayer.
A small boy holds his hands flat against the pockets of his shorts.
A woman in dark glasses bites her fingers.
A man on crutches waves one crutch high in the air.
An older woman holds a handkerchief over her mouth.
A mother holds the hands of two children; one of them holds the hand of a third.
Three teenagers salute.
A white-haired man waves his straw hat in farewell.
Some hands hold American flags; others hold wildflowers.
An old man clutches his throat, and some people fold their arms, hiding their hands as if for protection.
A man and a woman wave a big hand-lettered sign: SO-LONG BOBBY.
The train moves on, along the worn silver rails.
So long. So long. So long.
“R.F.K. Funeral Train— Rediscovered,” an exhibition appearing at Danziger Projects in New York can be seen June 6 to July 31. His book, “R.F.K.,” will be published by Aperture in September.
REQUIRED VIEWING: Jamie Livingston’s Polaroids
June 7, 2008
Jamie Livingston took a polaroid each day for almost 20 years until his death in 1997. The photos have been put together, and there’s nothing more than the images and dates to speak for themselves. It’s a beautiful, funny, awe-inspiring and sometimes tragic collection of photos. There is a distinct transformation of the shots from the light-hearted photos of the beginning through to the sudden tragic end. You can really see him grow as a person, and a very skilled photographer. I highly recommend the collection, I could imagine this as a museum exhibit. The photos can found here. A sample…
