Don’t Look Back
Manuel Álvarez Bravo
Harry Callahan
Manuel Carrillo
Henri Cartier-Bresson
Van Deren Coke
Laura Gilpin
Luis González Palma
André Kertész
Heinrich Kühn
Leon Levinstein
Barbara Morgan
Nancy Newhall
Bernard Plossu
George Tice
Edward Weston
Jerry Uelsmann
Last week, we had a wonderful conversation with a dear friend who discussed the strong emotional response she has to photographs of people walking down empty roads, seen from the back. It sparked us, and we brainstormed, went through our inventory, and voila, this exhibit is our response to that.
In photography, the face often acts as an anchor for meaning, identity, and emotion. Don’t Look Back asks what happens when that anchor is removed. Without the subject’s gaze to guide interpretation, the images become ambiguous. Figures serve as stand-ins rather than portraits; moments seem overheard rather than staged. The viewer is no longer met directly, but instead follows, observes, and imagines.
We all have experienced being photographed. “Look at me,” says the photographer as they direct us to capture our likeness. Many photographers seek the spark in your eyes, aiming to reveal more than just your appearance; they want to see some of your inner personality. It is said that the eyes are the portal to the soul. What happens when their faces aren’t seen?
The absence of faces introduces a subtle mystery. Who are these people when we cannot see them clearly? What stories do we project onto them? By withholding the most direct signifier of identity, the photographs shift power toward the viewer’s imagination, making each image an active, participatory experience.
The phrase Don’t Look Back is, of course, taken from the Bob Dylan film directed by D.A. Pennebaker, who attributes the phrase to Sachel Paige, who said, “Don’t look back, something might be gaining on you.”