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"This extraordinary inner strength can be seen both in their faces and in their gestures."
Zoom!

A resident of a St. Paul, Minnesota, home for the blind leans against a fence and lifts her face toward the sky. Photographer Jerome Liebling moves in close and fills the frame with this figure, giving her the kind of importance that takes up a lot of space. Even though there is enough available light to have a greater depth of field in this photo, Liebling has chosen to selectively focus on the woman. The effect emphasizes her importance even more.

There is just enough light coming from behind her to light the top of her head in a subtle halo. But perhaps most dramatic is the woman’s expression, recorded at the decisive moment, wrinkling her nose in curiosity, or perhaps relief at finding a place to rest in the sun. “I photographed in clinics and institutions first in the 1960s and then again in 1975, and was compelled by the remarkable strength of the people I saw,” wrote Liebling. “This extraordinary inner strength can be seen both in their faces and in their gestures. I believe that the extent to which a society cares for all its people is a gauge of humanity–or lack of it.”

 

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Minneapolis Institute of Arts