Katy Grannan » Saatchi Gallery

Anonymous, Los Angeles, Boulevard 9

Anonymous, Los Angeles, Boulevard 9

Anonymous, Los Angeles, Boulevard 24

Anonymous, Los Angeles, Boulevard 6

Anonymous, Los Angeles, Boulevard 13

Anonymous, San Francisco, Boulevard 15

Anonymous, San Francisco, Boulevard 15

Katy Grannan considers her pictures to be portraits. If they are, why title them all ’anonymous’? Part of the answer lies in the fact that they have all agreed to be photographed; she has tipped her hand, relinquishing the power of the candid shot of the street photographer for a risky collaborative portrait session.This might have given guarded results, but happily the complicity has produced images of raw power.
While not denying the label ’portraits’, I question the designation because it doesn’t quite do justice to the pictures. They are really not so much about individuals as about the range of prideful individuality among human beings, and their common fate, symbolized, I think, by that ubiquitous white wall. Grannan accepts that each person has a rich history, with its victories and defeats, which a single image can only hint at, but it’s the sum total of her portraits that gives this work its power. Caught in the blinding glare of the California sun, restless and worn yet often possessed of fierce pride, the figures stand, shift, turn, look away â€“ resigned to the next throw of the dice while not holding out much hope that it will go their way.

Text by William A Ewing

Anonymous, Los Angeles, Boulevard 6

Anonymous, Los Angeles, Boulevard 6

Anonymous, San Francisco, Boulevard 22

Anonymous, San Francisco, Boulevard 22

Anonymous, Los Angeles, Boulevard 13

Anonymous, Los Angeles, Boulevard 13

Anonymous, Los Angeles, Boulevard 19

Anonymous, Los Angeles, Boulevard 19

Anonymous, San Francisco, Boulevard 31

Anonymous, Los Angeles, Boulevard 24

Anonymous, Los Angeles, Boulevard 24

Anonymous, San Francisco, Boulevard 31

Anonymous, San Francisco, Boulevard 31

Anonymous, San Francisco, Boulevard 4

Anonymous, San Francisco, Boulevard 4

Anonymous, San Francisco, Boulevard 3

Anonymous, San Francisco, Boulevard 3

Anonymous, Los Angeles, Boulevard 12

Anonymous, Los Angeles, Boulevard 12

Anonymous, San Francisco, 2010

Anonymous, San Francisco, 2010

Anonymous, San Francisco, Boulevard 1

Anonymous, San Francisco, Boulevard 1

Anonymous, Los Angeles, Boulevard 27

Anonymous, Los Angeles, Boulevard 19

Anonymous, San Francisco, Boulevard 4

Anonymous, San Francisco, Boulevard 5

Anonymous, San Francisco, Boulevard 3

Anonymous, Los Angeles, Boulevard 11

Anonymous, Los Angeles, Boulevard 12

Anoymous, San Francisco, Boulevard 40

Anonymous, San Francisco, Boulevard 20

Anonymous, San Francisco, Boulevard 1

Anonymous, San Francisco, Boulevard 66

Anonymous, San Francisco, Boulevard 15

Anonymous, San Francisco, Boulevard 22

Anonymous, Los Angeles, Boulevard 26

Anonymous, Los Angeles, Boulevard 9

Anonymous, Los Angeles, Boulevard 74

Anonymous, San Francisco, Boulevard 20

Anonymous, San Francisco, Boulevard 20

Anonymous, San Francisco, Boulevard 40

Anonymous, San Francisco, Boulevard 40

Anonymous, San Francisco, Boulevard 66

Anonymous, San Francisco, Boulevard 66

Anonymous, San Francisco, Boulevard 5

Anonymous, San Francisco, Boulevard 5

Anonymous, Los Angeles, Boulevard 11

Anonymous, Los Angeles, Boulevard 11

Anonymous, Los Angeles, Boulevard 26

Anonymous, Los Angeles, Boulevard 26

Anonymous, Los Angeles, Boulevard 74

Anonymous, Los Angeles, Boulevard 74

Anonymous, Los Angeles, Boulevard 27

Anonymous, Los Angeles, Boulevard 27