Caravaggio was a murderer
Will people be affronted by how they’re portrayed in the book?
I haven’t yet read Keith McNally’s memoir, I Regret Almost Everything, but it is on my to-read list, and occupies a space on my nightstand.
His Instagram account is a delightful read, at once thoughtful and snarky. Today, he posted snippets of an interview he did with The Irish Times. I found this response particularly insightful.
Most important, his last sentence, “But just don’t be shocked when the artist’s personal life doesn’t fit your narrative.”
Bravo, and thank you, Keith McNally!
I appreciate and invite discourse - civilized and spirited discourse is welcome. What I don’t like to see are the dismissive comments on an artists’ or public person’s social media post reading “shut up and sing,” or “shut up and dribble,” or similar.
Everyone is entitled to their opinion.
It still disturbs me that football player Colin Kaepernick was excoriated for refusing to stand for the National Anthem. Rather than acknowledging or respecting his position as a Black man, a large vocal contingent of people condemned his personal stand, rather than just disagreeing. Kaepernick’s position: "I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color. To me, this is bigger than football and it would be selfish on my part to look the other way. There are bodies in the street and people getting paid leave and getting away with murder."
The Irish Times also included in this question, another, “Do you think anyone will be affronted by how they’re portrayed when they’ve read the book?”
McNally didn’t respond to that part of the question. But this is something I have been thinking about daily as I have been writing my own memoir.
To be fair, my memoir is photography-forward, with my own observations serving as connective tissue between the images. But there are origin stories, and stories for which there are no photographs; stories I think a reader needs to know to understand the times and the path to the situations that led to the pictures… and people are in those stories. I think about what they will think. Will they be affronted? Will they be pleased? Will their recollection of the times jibe with mine?
My response: RASHOMON, and also, every picture tells a story (which will differ with each viewer!)
FINI