May 31, 2008
Thomas Holton and the Lams of Ludlow Street
I don't buy into the whole idea of universality — the popular "it's a small world after all" belief that if you scratch the surface a bit we're all just plain folk who are the same underneath. Our culture, our families and our unique quirks mold our worlds and define the physics around which our lives revolve often blinding us to other worlds that exist beside us. I enjoy the work of artists who expose the intersections and rifts between worlds allowing us to peek into the unknowable territory that marks the boundaries of other people's lives. This is what Thomas Holton's The Lams of Ludlow Street does for me.
05/31/08 05:27 PM
Hired gun said...
Excellent pictures. As I was viewing them, I felt that he must have interacted with them for years to cross the boundary and become "fly on the wall". Indeed, the text confirmed it.
Thanks for recommending.
05/31/08 06:30 PM
Jeff said...
Thanks for the link. I think the time he spent with the Lams was well spent and that series proves it. Always nice to have new friends and the photos here, were the icing on the cake. A very nice series.
06/03/08 10:47 PM
angie said...
thanks for the link. showed the website to my husband who works in chinatown, engine 9, and he really appreciated the pictures. for him, its sometimes difficult to gain different kinds of perspectives on the people/community he serves.
I really appreciated the warmth.
06/04/08 10:11 AM
Anonymous said...
I work on Ludlow street and am often wondering what goes on in the windows above. Sometimes I see Chinese faces looking down on me but I never had any idea of what the lives of those people look like. Thanks for the link.
07/12/08 07:07 AM
Anonymous said...
people can be the same and still be strangers, no?
01/29/12 05:19 PM
lucinda piersol said...
I came to the same conclusion as Raul Guttierez about the non-universality of people when our family mingled with a latin american one. I learned Spanish and discussed with my teacher my idea that even emotions are different with different groups. Yet I do think there are some universals. I have not had the luck of travels so I really like various "exotic" photos. The photos of the Lams are wonderful and they are not entirely exotic for me since I live nearby to them. Raul Gutierrez' photos, on the other hand do arouse a certain mystery.