,”A single photograph can express much, but in a narrative sense, it is like a single word,” writes Gerry Badger in his book The Pleasure of Good Photographs.
At the Arles photo festival, I visited the exhibition In Search of Life by photojournalist Letizia Battaglia (1935–2022). Each photo in this show tells the story of what life was like in Palermo between 1970 and 1980, during the height of the Mafia war. Not a word, not a sentence—but a whole story.
The master of storytelling in a single frame is, of course, Jeff Wall. And interestingly enough, some of Battaglia’s images reminded me of his work.
Take, for example, the photograph of magistrate Roberto Scarpinato with his escort on the rooftops of the Court of Palermo (1998). With a little imagination, it could have been staged by Wall himself.
→ View the photo in The Guardian
The same goes for her photo of a prostitute and her two friends, murdered by the Mafia.
→ View the photo at ICP
Of course, Wall’s vision of photography is very different from Battaglia’s.
Where she captures the reality of the moment, Wall constructs his images—carefully planned and staged, often in reference to the old masters. His works are meant for the wall (large-scale), not the newspaper or the book. He wanted to create a different kind of relationship with the viewer—one that moved away from the fleeting experience of mass media imagery. He called his style near-documentary.
Where Battaglia reacts to the moment, Wall suspends it.
His images leave space. They suggest a before and an after, but never spell them out. The facts are paused, waiting.
After seeing the exhibition, I searched my archive for a photo that might connect to this idea.
Of course, it’s impossible. These two giants are in a league of their own. But still, I found an image that could have been staged. Where the before and after remain open to interpretation. And that, with a little imagination, refers to an old master: Vermeer’s Milkmaid .
Because yes, we all carry pictures in our heads.