Jeff Wall and The Gaze

Jeff Wall, Mimic, 1982

This image could very easily be a documentary street photograph by Meyerowitz or another of the American photographers working in this field in the past twenty years. However, as soon as we know it is a Jeff Wall photograph, we can identify that it is a completely constructed moment. In this particular image, Wall took his inspiration from a moment that he actually witnessed, and then recreated using an 8x10 camera and three actors. 

The image shows a white couple, passing an Asian man on the street. The man in the middle looks at the man to the left, while the woman he is with passes by, squinting due to the sun. The white man is making a clearly racist gesture, pulling the corner of his eye up to mimic the shape of the Asian mans eyes. This moment of petty racism affected Wall enough for him to want to recreate it, because as he said 'these little gestures of hate are precursors of worse things to come.' The distance between the two parties speaks volumes, suggesting that although they inhabit the same city, their experiences and belief values make them, in their opinions, worlds apart. The Asian man looks to the right, perhaps oblivious of the white mans gesture, or perhaps trying to avoid an awkward confrontation of the truth. 

Although as an audience we know this is a staged photograph, it is still uncomfortable in a way to look at this exchange, as it is based on an actual event. Wall is therefore trying to draw our attention to a taboo subject; that racism is found in the most everyday of situations, and without these small moments, much larger acts of racism would not have any foundations.  

The way they are dressed gives another level to this image; the Asian man is dressed in a shirt, trousers and black shoes, and looks quite smart. The couple, on the other hand, look quite trashy in their dress sense. This may have been how the people were dressed in the original moment, or it may have been a decision made by Wall to comment on the fact that this sort of prejudice is found in the poor or uneducated levels of society.