Joel Peter Witkin

Joel Peter Witkin is an American photographer, born in 1939. From 1961 to 1964 he worked as a photographer in the Vietnam war. After receiving his BFA he began to focus more on his fine art work.

To describe his photography as morbid is an understatement. It is horrifying, eye-opening, and beautiful in a bizarre, inexplicable way, all of which is enhanced by the daguerreotype quality in his images. He cites this experience as part of what shaped his vision:

"It happened on a Sunday when my mother was escorting my twin brother and me down the steps of the tenement where we lived. We were going to church. While walking down the hallway to the entrance of the building, we heard an incredible crash mixed with screaming and cries for help. The accident involved three cars, all with families in them. Somehow, in the confusion, I was no longer holding my mother's hand. At the place where I stood at the curb, I could see something rolling from one of the overturned cars. It stopped at the curb where I stood. It was the head of a little girl. I bent down to touch the face, to speak to it -- but before I could touch it someone carried me away."

What initially drew me to his work was his use of religious icons in a manner previously unknown to me. That he found it necessary to include that it was a Sunday and he was on his way to church when this incident occurred provides an interesting insight into his images. There is also the fact that his parents divorced when he was a young boy - his father was Jewish while his mother was Roman Catholic and they could not reconcile their religious differences. He has also said, "I consider myself a Western Christian artist, and the basis that I hang all this stuff on is belief. "

http://www.cindymarlerphotography.com/Witkin%20text.html (Interview)

http://www.edelmangallery.com/witkin.htm (Gallery)

http://www.correnticalde.com/joelpeterwitkin/ (Website)