Clémence Polès Farhang’s decade-long photographic project, Passerby, isn’t just a collection of portraits; it’s a quietly powerful counter-narrative to the often-exploitative imagery surrounding immigration and womanhood. The exhibition, “Can I come over and take your picture?,” now showing at Slip House in New York, arrives at a moment when discussions around both topics are particularly fraught, and the work’s strength lies in its refusal to offer easy answers or sensationalism. Instead, it presents a nuanced, intimate look at the lives of women who have navigated displacement and built lives on their own terms.
- The project centers the experiences of immigrant women, a demographic often relegated to the margins of mainstream narratives.
- Farhang deliberately avoids framing immigration as a “crisis,” instead focusing on the resilience and artistry of those who undertake it.
- The work subtly critiques the media’s portrayal of immigrants, particularly the focus on movement and control rather than individual stories.
What’s particularly striking is the recurring theme of displacement shaping identity. The portraits, accompanied by excerpts from Farhang’s interviews, reveal how leaving one’s homeland isn’t simply a geographical shift, but a fundamental reshaping of self. The stories of Huong Dodinh, fleeing Vietnam in 1953, and Shirin Neshat, grappling with her identity after leaving Iran during the revolution, are particularly poignant. These aren’t tales of victimhood, but of adaptation, reinvention, and the enduring power of cultural memory.
Farhang herself draws a compelling parallel to the work of Carmen Winant, noting how photography can be reclaimed as a tool for empowerment. This is a crucial point. In an era of hyper-visual media, controlling the narrative – and *who* controls it – is paramount. The project implicitly asks: who gets to tell the story of the immigrant experience, and what images are used to do so? The answer, too often, is those in power, using imagery that reinforces existing biases.
The inclusion of Isabel Sandoval, the Filipina-American filmmaker, and her reflections on navigating identity politics within the industry, adds another layer of complexity. Sandoval’s observation that labels can be “a double-edged sword” speaks to the pressures faced by artists to conform to expectations, even as they strive for authenticity.
From a PR perspective, this exhibition is a masterclass in quiet impact. There’s no celebrity endorsement, no flashy marketing campaign. Its power lies in its authenticity and the compelling stories it tells. It’s a project that will likely gain traction through word-of-mouth and critical acclaim, positioning Farhang as a thoughtful and important voice in contemporary photography. The timing, coinciding with heightened political debates around immigration, is also strategically astute. Expect to see this work influencing visual storytelling for years to come, and prompting a much-needed re-evaluation of how we represent the immigrant experience.
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