Study #19, Rich and Poor, Jim Goldberg | DRAF Study Series

This critical essay, commissioned by the Roberts Institute of Art, performs a close affective reading of a selection of works from Jim Goldberg’s landmark series ‘Rich and Poor’ (1977-85). The essay is published as #19 in the DRAF Study Series, where critics from around the world are invited to respond to artworks in the foundation’s collection.

Excerpt:

“Within this work of seemingly quotidian and regional significance, Goldberg exposes a plurality of intersecting global power structures at play: the social, political and economic advancement of white women at the expense of women of colour; the invisibilised exploitation of migrant labour, especially within the domestic sphere; and America’s unending failure to deliver one of its foundational promises – equality of opportunity. Goldberg’s rather simple approach – his unique combination of anecdotal, handwritten texts by his subjects and straight-forward black and white photography of the subjects in their homes – creates a space of intimacy (between text and image, the personal and the political, photographer and subject, the viewer and the viewed) that allows for a subtle but expansive unearthing of these historical and contemporary societal relations. Such formal methods ushered in a new critical and aesthetic position vis-à-vis the tradition of social documentary photography.”

Cover Artwork: Jim Goldberg, Rich and Poor - My Dream Was To Become, 1982 gelatin print 14 1/8 x 11in. (35.6 x 27.9cm.) © Jim Goldberg / Magnum Photos