I have written this e-mail several times trying to come up with the words to describe to someone that doesn't understand Egglestons work what is is like for those of us that do. Without insulting anyone. So here we go. Some of us can taste with our eyes. We eat the world. And photographs, to us, are one of the the basic food groups. When I see Eggleston's image of the interior of an oven, I don't just see oven innards. I can smell the easy off. Hear the squeak of the hinge when it opens. Feel the way the left hinge hangs up just a little when you close it. The solid thud when it finally does close. The sag and snap of leather soled shoes on linoleum covered floors. Sometimes I may get an impression of the pride the owner must have felt when the thing was new. What it means for it to be new no longer. If you can't taste photographs, you will simply never understand. r (I apologize to anyone who may be hyper sensitive to ovens.) (Or who may suffer eating disorders.) (Or lives in an aluminum house trailer. In this heat.)
