Re: [Leica] Sylvia Plachy

[Photovilla@aol.com]

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I  always thought that Syllvia Plachy's photos were one of the (many) things 

wrong with the Village Voice. When I heard her speak last year  I knew why: 

She's a very depressed person>>

Interesting. That is not my take on her at all.

First, keep in mind that English is not her first language (and like many 
slovic-born people) the emphasis when she speaks is on different parts of 
words then most American born english speaking people. She is also very 
quiet, which can be often misinterpreted as well.

I worked with Sylvia on a project when I was at NYU and she was both very 
encouraging and generous. She even donated a photo for the cover of the 
student run campus photo magazine. (...just to give you a contrast, when we 
asked Helen Levitt to give a free lecture about her work on campus, she told 
us she charges $10k to talk and then hung up the phone in our face! Ouch.)

I wouldn't confuse her "low keyed" manor with depression. I think she has had 
a relatively hard life -and perhaps some of the miles have worn hard- but 
meeting her was nothing like meeting say, Nan Goldin. (who broke down in 
tears while giving her lecture on her "The Ballad of Sexual Dependency." Now 
she was clearly "depressed.") She is also a devoted mother and, at least when 
I met her, an artist who was really just surviving... not getting rich or 
concerned with such. ( I believe she was living on Ave. B when it was no 
fashionable to do so.)

It is true that Sylvia is not the typical "ego maniac successful artist" that 
seems to be a prerequisite for being successful in NYC. She does, however, 
have a few photos in the Met and and numerous monographs of her work for the 
VV. (Which, btw, I have liked much of.) 

I found that meeting Sylvia and Eugene Richards (truely a gentle person as 
you might not guess from some of his essays) were really two high points of 
photo school for me- a refreshing change from many of the other "famous" 
photographers who traipsed through our photo classes.

What don't you like about her work? (I never met a photograph I didn't 
like...)

later,
Rich