Virginia Fine Arts Museum Photo Exhibition
Nothing Gold Can Stay.
The title Nothing Gold Can Stay takes its inspiration from a Robert Frost poem about the fragility and transience of youth.
The exhibition includes nearly 20 photographs that explore themes related to childhood and adolescence by artists working from the 19th century to the present. They include Diane Arbus, William Eggleston, Dawoud Bey, Issei Suda, Emmet Gowin, and others.
Jacob, 2005
The large format polaroids by Dawoud Bey made me recall photographs I took of my youngest son in a makeshift photo studio in our garage when he was about 8 years old. He sat before the camera and smiled with all of the innocence of youth and not an ounce of pretense or self-consciousness. It took me a while to dig through the archives to locate the pictures but it was worth it. My images might not ever make it to a museum, but they will always be placeholders for the love and devotion I feel for my sons.