Generation Wealth By Lauren Greenfield
December 10, 2017 -
Last weekend I headed to the International Center of Photography to see Lauren Greenfield’s newest art exhibit. For those of you who are not familiar with her work, Greenfield is a documentary filmmaker and photographer who has been working in the industry since 1992. Some of her more well known pieces include Thin, Queen of Versailles, Kids + Money and Beauty Culture, and if none of those ring a bell, you may have also seen her work in other forms. Lauren first came onto my radar back into 2014 when I saw the short video that she created in partnership with Always. #likeagirl was a campaign that was meant shatter gender stereotypes and empower women. This video skyrocketed, receiving 90 million+ views, and created instant conversation. Men and women from all over contributed to the discussion, and shared their own personal thoughts and experiences with the world. Additionally, this video received multiple nominations and awards, including a Primetime Emmy Award for best commercial.
Two years later, in spring of 2016, I was getting ready to come here to New York City for my “senior project”. My goal for this project was to research the contemporary art scene, and see how modern technology has influenced the way that we see and make art. Just days before I left for this trip, my primary connection fell through, and all of the sudden, I was heading all the way to New York with no sense of direction. As it turned out, however, losing this connection ended up being the best thing that could have possibly happened, because in a last minute scramble to come up with a plan, I was put in touch with Lauren herself, who at the time happened to be working with a family friend. So on the first day of my project, I headed over to our friend’s apartment, and got to shadow Lauren for the entire day. On this particular day, she was doing a shoot for a top secret project, and I got to learn all about what goes on behind the scenes of a big film/photography shoot. From holding monitors and light fixtures, to sitting silently in the kitchen with the rest of the crew while Greenfield conducted a one-on-one interview, this day gave me just a tiny glimpse of the hard work that it takes to be a part of such an incredible piece of work. That day, I had the chance to talk with Greenfield, and hear a little bit about this project. She didn’t say much about it, as she wanted it to remain top secret, but she did let me know that what she was working on was going to be an accumulation of the past twenty-five years of her work.
Over the past year and a half that its been since I had the opportunity to shadow Greenfield, I’ve occasionally googled her work, hoping I could find this top secret project that she had been working on, and last weekend, I found it. Generation Wealth is a film and photography exhibit that consists of just about everything that Greenfield has done in the past twenty-five years, highlighting what Greenfield calls “the influence of affluence”. Despite its title, Greenfield’s exhibit is not just about the wealthy, but more so about the desire for wealth, which is simultaneously growing into a larger phenomenon, and becoming more and more unrealistic. Greenfield tells the stories of those who have made it to the top, and those who are struggling to make it, highlighting this “fake it till you make it” mentality. Additionally, we start to see the parallel between the desire for wealth and body image, and how this “acquire to desire” has a huge impact on the image people want to put forth, which extends from what we wear, to how we choose to present ourselves.
This exhibit covers two floors, and includes both film and photography. When I went last weekend, I only gave myself about an hour to see the entire thing, and now I have to go back. I feel like I was only able to just crack the surface, and there is so much more to take away from it. Lauren’s piece is extremely complex, yet incredibly dynamic, and I look forward to returning and learning more about this phenomenon.
I am so glad that I had the chance to see this exhibit while it was here in New York. It was so cool to see how much work went into this project behind the scenes, and then to see the final product almost two years later. I am beyond impressed by this incredible piece of work.
My summary of this exhibit doesn’t even begin to do it justice, so I really encourage you to go and see it for yourself. Generation Wealth is currently being shown at the International Center of Photography and will be there until January 7th. Additionally, if you can’t make it to the ICP to see the exhibit, I highly recommend checking out the website, which I’ll have linked here. Although you can’t see the full exhibit here, there is still a lot of information, as well as some of the films that played a major role in the making of this exhibit.
-sb
