Jim Goldberg
Jim Goldberg
Jim Goldbergis an American artist, photographer, and writer whose work reflects long-term, in-depth collaborations with neglected, ignored, or otherwise outside-the-mainstream populations...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionPhotographer
CountryUnited States of America
needs complexity immigrants
Every single immigrant is part of a larger history that needs to be communicated in all its ambivalences and complexities.
aware met somewhere taken welcomed
In Europe, I am an outsider. I don't really understand anything that I am seeing. I can be welcomed into people's homes, I can be met with suspicion, I can be taken somewhere else altogether. There is always wonderment there for me, even if the person I am photographing may not see it or be aware of it.
kids gun boys
This was in San Francisco, in 1987. A bunch of kids were camped out in the Riviera Hotel - boy hustlers and their sugar daddy. One boy, Tank, showed us his gun. 'It's not loaded,' he said. He pointed the gun to his head, then out the window, and then to the ceiling. When the gun was pointed to the ceiling, he pulled the trigger and it went off. The gun was loaded after all.
attention agendas ignored
My only agenda is to bring attention to otherwise ignored and shunned lives.
found havens
It's always good to find things that you haven't found before.
brain intuition use
I use my intuition. I tell my students: use your brains, but also use another part of yourself.
missing world purpose
There are many images which I miss on purpose. I've done too many of them before and photographing them again doesn't change the world, or me.
memories wanted copies
Before I even took pictures I knew that I wanted to have them as hard copy memories.
photograph evidence
[A photograph] is a part of the evidence. I'm not saying it's the truth - it's part of the evidence.
people kind photograph
The photograph is kind of a proof - a proof that I actually met these people, that they actually have lives, and that they're worth considering.
running order asking-questions
Since 1970, I've been using text and ephemera as well as photographs in order to tell stories of one kind or another. There's a thread that runs through all the work that is to do with bearing witness. The photographs are about asking questions, though, not answering them.
intuition privilege intimacy
I have the great privilege of being both witness and storyteller. Intimacy, trust and intuition guide my work.
art best comments criticism error extension figure forms hard invites order process putting served stages stuff takes time trial work
In order to figure this artmaking stuff out, it's trial and error and experimentation, and takes some time and hard thinking. Putting work out in many forms and stages is an extension of how I see things. I feel the art process is best served when it invites comments and constructive criticism from people.
I'm not a politically radical person. In fact, I'm much more interested in being radical aesthetically.