Natasha Egan on Miss Aniela

Natasha Egan, Curator at MoCP Chicago and judge of the 6th annual Art of Photography Show at the Lyceum Theatre, recently spoke with Maureen Cavanaugh on the program "These Days" on KPBS radio. They spoke about what distinguishes great photography from the countless number of images being produced on a daily basis in the current age of prevalent digital media. This discussion is also the basis of the exhibit, the Art of Photography, which is free through November 7 if you happen to be in San Diego.

During the discussion, Miss Aniela's "The Smothering" is compared to another artist's image, quite literally entitled "Chris helps his girlfriend, Mona, smoke crack in their apartment in Hackney, London" by Sebastian Meyer. Cavanaugh, referring to the Photoshop manipulations of Aniela's image in contrast to the documentary style of Meyer's image, purposes the question of, "I wonder how do you compare such two different photographs?"

Egan responds that they are not so different after all. She explains, "I actually don’t think they’re quite different because for me both of them are very psychologically challenging," and goes on to say, "They’re both in a box, both pictures are taken in these tight quarters, and yet the results are different people experimenting with... life’s challenges."

Read or listen to the conversation in it's entirety on the KPBS wesbite, and check out the many links available there for more information about the show, Egan and the 111 chosen images, narrowed from thousands of submissions from around the world.

Images: (Top) Miss Aniela The Smothering (Bottom) Sebastian Meyer Chris helps his girlfriend, Mona, smoke crack in their apartment in Hackney, London