Sarah Marks
Felix Gonzalez-Torres, "[No Title]"
1985, Instant black-and-white print
I selected this image because it gives rise to a bittersweet feeling of nostalgia within me. Torres, a cuban emmigrant who fled to America, used this work to convey the "sense of exile" that he felt in America. The use of a black and white medium suggests time, distance, and alienation. The close values make it feel as if the barbed wire fence is blocks passage to the ocean. The ocean being representative of "yearning for the infinite". The slightly worn quality to the photograph ages it, adding to the nostalgia. Using the ocean as the horizon line leads the eye and adds to the idea of the sea being representative of the infinite.
