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| The visitor cards at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston |
During its original showing at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (MFAH), WAR/PHOTOGRAPHY: Images of Armed Conflict and Its Aftermath offered a place for visitors to share their reflections and impressions about their experience at the exhibit. Guests used poppy flower-tagged index cards to write down these thoughts.
Curator Anne Wilkes Tucker passed along several inscriptions on comments cards and other forms from visitors who attended the Houston run. Here are just some of the many powerful things visitors wrote down and pinned up on a wall at the MFAH.
“I took a large group of students down to see the War exhibition and they were really moved and changed by what they saw. It was way different from the movies and video games that they are used to. One of the students even asked me ‘What makes these look so real?’”
“When I see an exhibit like this I am always torn between an appreciation for the photography or an spiritual response to the subject matter. So much beautiful photography so much suffering. Both are appropriate and this exhibit certainly brings both to the front.”
“Now I've seen a collection that has internal resonance and life greater than its parts. Its parts feed back on each other and create new insights and feeling.”
“Thank you for WAR/PHOTOGRAPHY. I had been anticipating the exhibit for months, and it surpassed any expectations I had --- which were tentative anyway. What is an American teenager who has lived all her life here to “expect” of war?
“The image that grasped my attention most was the picture [by Ziv Koren] that is demonstrated from the shooters point of view. It allowed me to consider the contrast in perception of the shooters and the victim.”
“My pursuits in the arts have always been musical because I deemed the visual arts not powerful enough to move me, not emotional enough to inspire. The photography of the exhibit moved and inspired me. In short, thank you for proving me wrong and opening up a world of possibilities.”
WAR/PHOTOGRAPHY's run at the Annenberg Space for Photography will also include a place for visitors to share their thoughts after viewing the exhibit. The show opens at the Space on Saturday, March 23, 2013.










