The Sun is Free
/Chad Meissner
2002
American
Split-tone selenium gelatin silver print
Museum Purchase through the General Acquisition Fund
Polk Museum of Art Permanent Collection 2002.7.3
An eerie photograph with a cryptic title, The Sun is Free uses selective focus to disorient the viewer. With blurred edges and a sharply-focused foreground, the image presents a figure with a head-covering, set against a backdrop of bare tree limbs. Where is this scene taking place? What is the figure wearing? Why does he or she hold both hands to the sides of his or her face? What could be going on?