UCR ARTS: California Museum of Photography
Curated by Douglas McCulloh
Lies are ever-present in human affairs, a tidal flow that rises and falls. Recently, lies have been at flood stage and photographs are central to the surge.
Statements, strings of words, are readily seen as assertions, claims. Photographs, on the other hand, are presumed to be a form of evidence. In Susan Sontag’s phrase, we assume photographs are “directly stenciled off the real.” Consequently, photographs, even dubious ones, carry credence in a way that words do not. Moreover, writes theorist Lev Manovich, “the reason we think that computer graphics technology has succeeded in faking reality is that we, over the course of the last hundred and fifty years, have come to accept the image of photography and film as reality.” For these main reasons and scores of lesser ones, photographs are ideal vehicles for lies. (Read More)
Outrage is bait. Want to grab attention and bypass commonsense discernment? Trigger outrage. This is well-known, a human fundamental, but it works nonetheless. Bozo sapiens is such a simple creature.
The Claim
The photograph shows a woman snorting drugs in front of a child. It received thousands of shares and, not surprisingly, widespread condemnation. Sample: “Again some stupid f*ck taking pictures with their almighty cell phone and posting it to social media instead of calling the police or social services.”
The Lie
The image is a joke posted on social media by comedienne and actress Janell Lenfert. “If you need a babysitter,” she wrote with the image on February 3, 2015, “please let me know.” Despite clearly humorous intent, the photograph slipped its comedic tethers in 2018–2019 and, like a cheesy B-movie monster risen from slumber, terrorized sensitive souls across the internet. Lenfert was forced to explain that the photo is one of four in a series she calls “bad babysitting photos.” They were made for an audience of one: her best friend, the mother of the child pictured, the child she was babysitting. “That is baking flour we used in the picture,” explains Lenfert. “It’s comedy! Hope this helps people sleep at night.”
