A photograph that made me think – ITALY Alex Majoli

I find this photograph by Alex Majoli very interesting, this is because I find it difficult to pick apart who and what is in the image. Looking at the female I find it hard to tell on whether she is an upper class woman or a prostitute, her clothes could represent both as fur could be seen as trashy or wealthy, but then her lower half and her messy hair shouts out cheap. What throws you is the gentleman who could be portrayed as I driver or a doorman sheltering and escorting the lady to a building, where assumptions could be made of either a fancy hotel or a half decent motel. I also feel that the way the photograph is taken could play a big part in the representation of the image, with it taken at night, and the woman appears to be ‘coming back’ from somewhere, it can be assumed that she is some sort of escort/prostitute returning from work. Majoli used an artificial flash to take this photograph, this creates a dramatic effect and draws a lot of attention on to the subjects, I think this adds even more mystery to the image as it’s as if Majoli is trying to say something but I can’t seem to figure out what.

Holly Ellis