Close Enough
Close Enough presents photographic works by twelve women photographers from the acclaimed Magnum Photos agency. The exhibition was shown at the International Center of Photography in New York in 2022 in conjunction with the seventy-fifth anniversary of the agency’s founding. In celebration of the twenty-fifth anniversary of C/O Berlin, the exhibition will be presented in Berlin in an adapted and expanded version. A central thread running through the works in the exhibition is their investigation of the relationship between photographers and their motif.
Inspired by a famous quote from Magnum co-founder Robert Capa—“If your pictures aren’t good enough, you’re not close enough”—the exhibition title also challenges his observation. The statement, which was made within the context of war photography, takes on a new, complex meaning in the exhibition. “Close” does not only refer to physical proximity; it refers much more to the trust, complicity, and connection that exists between the photographer and the sitter or subject. The works presented here tell of belonging, intimacy, and representation, while also addressing foreignness, vulnerability, and power dynamics. In this way, the exhibition also questions the assumption that physical proximity automatically creates transparency and immediacy.
The debate surrounding closeness is explored as a relationship that is central to the documentary image: between the camera and the subject, between the gaze and the reaction, between power and empathy. The curatorial focus in this exhibition is to allow each work to use its own language and have its own space without imposing an overriding interpretation or thematic structure on them. The works are accompanied by short texts in which the photographers describe their projects from a personal perspective and offer insight into their photographic approach. A specially produced audio guide expands the exhibition to include personal commentary and reflections by the participating photographers.
Close Enough shows varying artistic approaches ranging from long-term collaborative projects to observations of social processes. Alessandra Sanguinetti, for example, accompanies two girls from rural Argentina for several decades in a long-term study. Myriam Boulos documents social change in Lebanon, from the protests to the impact of the explosion in Beirut’s port in 2020, as well as her appropriation of the city in intimate nocturnal photographs that read like a visual diary.
Hannah Price transforms catcalls into photographic encounters, an ambivalent act that is balanced between self-empowerment, frustration, and the feeling of recognition. Cristina de Middel portrays male clients of sex workers and reverses the power dynamics in the act of photographing. Susan Meiselas collects visual material about the Indigenous community of the Dani people in Papua (Indonesia) and critically explores issues of representation.
Carolyn Drake investigates with her protagonists how masculinity is depicted in photography. The staged photographs challenge our expectations of documentary work and negotiate power, control, and self-image in a playful way, demanding that we reassess the photographic gaze on the male body from a female perspective. Other works explore physicality, self-staging, religious education, marginalized living conditions, and subcultural scenes ranging from hedonism to protest.
Including new works that focus on the issue of closeness—understood as the complex mix of spatial, emotional, and social distance between the photographer and the subject—Close Enough provides insight into current photographic approaches taken by women who are increasingly shaping the visual language of Magnum Photos.
The exhibition includes works by Olivia Arthur, Myriam Boulos, Sabiha Çimen, Bieke Depoorter, Carolyn Drake, Nanna Heitmann, Susan Meiselas, Cristina de Middel, Hannah Price, Lúa Ribeira, Alessandra Sanguinetti, and Newsha Tavakolian.
Close Enough . Perspectives by Women Photographers of Magnum, which was initiated by the participating photographers themselves, was shown for the first time in 2022 in a show curated by Charlotte Cotton at the International Center of Photography (ICP) in New York. The exhibition was organized in collaboration with Magnum Photos and adapted for C/O Berlin by curator Boaz Levin. An accompanying publication of the same name has been published by Kehrer Verlag.
In the audioguide Listen to the Artists, the photographers share how they approach their subjects and what close enough means to them.
In episode six of Chats & Tracks, Cristina de Middel talks with Leonie Möhring from ByteFM about intimacy, responsibility, and new forms of storytelling in photography. The Magnum photographer reflects on her path from photojournalism to fictional image worlds, and discusses her project Gentlemen’s Club.
The MUBI-curated film series CLOSE ENOUGH: PERSPECTIVES BY WOMEN FILMMAKERS explores closeness and distance – both spatial and emotional – inspired by the exhibition Close Enough.
The films translate themes from photojournalism to the screen: from Chantal Akerman’s precise observation in Jeanne Dielman to Lizzie Borden’s feminist portrait in Working Girls and Claire Simon’s empathetic documentary Our Body. Seven directors, seven perspectives – new ways to experience closeness in cinema.
