SHELLY SILVER, WE, 1990
“Even as the text instructs us otherwise, it is impossible not to read We's two images - that is, to respond to their symbolic quality, their suggestiveness. In a stream of associations, the rhythmic flow of people on the left becomes an ejaculation while the rhythmic hand on the right marks detachment, self-centeredness. Simultaneously, we may say to ourselves, "Yes, it is only a crowd of anonymous people. It is only a penis.
But even as we attempt to discipline our interpretative urges, the hermeneutic created by this simple juxtaposition is driving us crazy with questions: Who is he? Why is he alone? Does he have a lover...? Does everyone in this crowd masturbate? Do they seek isolation from the mass? Are they aware of one another? Are they relational in less-populated situations? Why was this private image made public? Why is this image private...?" Chris Straayer, Deviant Eyes, Deviant Bodies, Sexual Orientation in Film and Video, Columbia University Press, 1996
A short, graphically dynamic work contrasting contradictory views of perception and interpretation, by way of society's assumptions vis-a-vis phallocentrism and fetishism.” - Shelly Silver