Note on Yet Why Not Say What Happened | Joel Sternfeld via Joel Sternfeld

Later, when it came time to present this work, I was conflicted about how to title it. I knew viewers might interpret the piece as evidence of environmental calamity. I was content to let this potentially mistaken interpretation stand. Years later, when working on the body of work entitled On This Site, I realized that I could write text to go with my pictures—and take responsibility for their meanings.

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Joel Sternfeld

Yet Why Not Say What Happened | Joel Sternfeld

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Sternfeld’s evolution from letting “mistaken interpretations stand” to actively pairing text with images is a live example of what I argued in Note about the death of the author: that explicitly writing down your intentions is how you combat the gap between what you made and what others assume you meant.