90.000 δολάρια με τη φωτογραφία του άλλου

90.000 δολάρια με τη φωτογραφία του άλλου

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Η instagramer Anna Collins δυσκολεύεται να το πιστέψει. Χωρίς να ερωτηθεί η ίδια καθόλου, ο αμερικανός φωτογράφος Richard Prince, του οποίου όλο το έργο είναι στραμμένο στη low-art και τις μεταποιήσεις αλλότριου υλικού, οικειοποιήθηκε μία από τις φωτογραφίες της που είναι αναρτημένες στο Instagram, και αφού τη μετέφερε μεγεθυμένη σε καμβά, την παρουσίασε τον περασμένο φθινόπωρο στην Gagosian Gallery της Νέας Υόρκης. Τώρα, η Anna Collins διεκδικεί το δικό της μερίδιο από την τιμή πώλησης της φωτογραφίας (90.000 δολάρια για καθεμιά από τις φωτογραφίες της έκθεσης που "δανείστηκε" ο Prince είτε από φίλους του, είτε από άλλους ανώνυμους instagramers). Η φωτογραφία συνεχίζει να υπάρχει πάντως στο λογαριασμό της, αλλά χωρίς το ... σχόλιο του Richard Prince. 'Αλλοι "ομοιοπαθούντες" επέλεξαν να πουλήσουν αντίγραφα της φωτογραφίας τους προς 90 δολάρια το ένα, θέλοντας έτσι να γελοιοποιήσουν το εγχείρημα του Prince και ίσως να πλήξουν και την εμπορική αποτίμηση του ιδίου.

Richard Prince's use of her Instagram image angers Toronto woman

Katrina Clarke, Staff Reporter, Published on Mon Jun 01 2015 (Toronto Star).

"A 19-year-old Toronto woman wants a cut of the profits after a controversial U.S. artist took her Instagram photo, enlarged it and reportedly sold it for $90,000.

The photo, showing Anna Collins and her boyfriend hanging out in her bed, was part of a collection called "New Portraits" by Richard Prince, a New York-based artist known for taking other people's works, making slight changes to them and then displaying them as his own. The collection was shown at New York's Gagosian Gallery last year and was included in Frieze New York's art fair in May.
"Appropriation without consent is not at all OK," Collins told the Star in an email. "For an upper-class white man who felt entitled enough to take younger girls' photos and sell them for a ridiculous amount of money, (it) strips us from the sense of security we have in the identity that we put out there."
Prince did not respond to a request for comment from the Star, nor did the Gagosian Gallery.
"Honestly, I was just extremely confused at first. How he is even allowed to do that, but also why he would want to use one of my photos in his exhibit?" Collins said.
Collins, an aspiring ballet teacher who studied dance education at York University, said she realized she was in the collection when someone tagged her in an Instagram photo of the gallery in late 2014.
The photo shows Collins lying on top of her boyfriend, Fox Martindale, as the two looked at his computer. Collins' photographer sister, Petra Collins — who became widely known when Instagram shut down her account after she posted a photo showing pubic hair poking out of a bikini — snapped the photo for fun a year and a half ago.
Anna said Petra gave her permission to post the photo on Instagram.

She said neither Prince nor the Gagosian Gallery contacted her about using her image. She has not tried to contact Prince.
All but one of Prince's "New Portraits" works, priced at $90,000, sold at the Frieze art fair, according to Vulture.com. (...)"