Tyranny of the Innocent
/Louviere + Vanessa
2015
American
Inkjet on German etching paper from distressed negatives
Gift of Jonn & Elizabeth Hoppe
Polk Museum of Art Permanent Collection 2013.2
Study this image carefully, and note its ethereal tones and dramatic title. Here, a man in a dark suit carries a woman in a white dress in his arms. He seems to have removed his tie and shepherds her limp body through a field of high grass. Many viewers will look at the suit he wears and the white dress she wears and make immediate assumptions about who these two figures are to each other and for what type of occasion they might be dressed in this way. But is the obvious answer the only one? Who do you think these figures are? Where are they coming from? Where are they going? How did they get here and arrive at this moment? Moreover, what might be going on? The possibilities are exhaustive, as are the presumptions about the physical state of the female figure. Is this a romantic scene or something much darker?