Jack Carnegie gets a lot out of life. His camera sees it all. And he doesn’t even have to move that far from home.
At the recent exhibition of his photographs at Duckrabbit he takes us with him, directing us here and there, around the neighbourhood and beyond, providing captions which scarcely describe what one can really see in some of his captured images,
The two policemen restraining a woman at a demonstration. Her face alive with fiery determination as both of her arms are gripped by young policemen, their faces in contrast, betraying no feelings.
The couple outside the pub, eyes only for each other, clutching an open beer bottle still in its wrapper. In a hurry for love. Who knows if their moment of joy will last?
The Vote Yes woman, her face shining with power and exhilaration. Will it prevail? Who knows?
The man with the bloody face, shocked, stupefied, uniformed cops beside him, expressionless. What happened? Why?
Jack poses questions and if we want we can guess at the answers.
Jack likes irony and confusion. He plays with urban landscape, its shapes, its angles. Its enigmatic and contradictory signs. And its wandering characters.
I think Jack’s camera gets the whole continuing spectrum of being human. The joy, the love, exhilaration, imagination, creativity, sadness, patience, brutality.
It’s all there.
