I do not think that their presence on a gallery give them an elevated status. I would rather think that putting pictures together, in homogeneous groups, giving a context, adding information, place them in a gallery, will clearly contribute to give a connotation and an opportunity to the viewer to better understand and find an interesting story to listen to.
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| Nicky Bird, from the series 'Question for Seller', https://nickybird.com/projects/question-for-seller-2/#gallery-2, (accessed 5/9/2018) |
As I wrote, the meaning derives from further information, the context. All this will permit to the viewer to imagine his/her own "story" or reading about a once hidden story, now discovered.
By my opinion the value is increased that the fact that now there is a story to buy, not just images of somebody unknown. When the viewer reads a story, he/her enters to be part of it. When her/he buys the story, this story, the memory of it, becomes an exclusive property. In a way it is like when somebody buys an antique tool (i.e. an old bow), and becomes the "owner" not only of the tool, but of the story behind it. The bow is not art, but the story of the bow, who built it, who used it, has an exclusive value.
I visited nickybird.com [accessed 2/09/2018] and watched an interesting video where Nicky Bird was talking about some of the sellers and their answers. One answered "I am pleased you asked about the people in the photographs as the real reason for selling them is that I wanted them to go to someone who was really interested in them. A bit like trying to find a good home for a puppy.....". I believe that, in these case, a good home would be the one that preserves the memory of a story.
I visited nickybird.com [accessed 2/09/2018] and watched an interesting video where Nicky Bird was talking about some of the sellers and their answers. One answered "I am pleased you asked about the people in the photographs as the real reason for selling them is that I wanted them to go to someone who was really interested in them. A bit like trying to find a good home for a puppy.....". I believe that, in these case, a good home would be the one that preserves the memory of a story.
