Barbara Davatz

Barbara Davatz's 'As Time Goes By. Portraits 1982, 1988, 1997' is now considered a classic. In 2014, 32 years after having taken the very first pictures of her subjects, Davatz resumed this long-term conceptual project and shot a new round of portraits of the same cast of characters. Back in 1982 she had taken frontal-only shots of a dozen pairs of young people, lovers, friends or relatives, as the case may be, looking straight at the camera, against a light-gray backdrop in her photo studio. She cast a sober and conceptual, but nonetheless sympathetic, eye on the personal and collective details of her subjects and their poses. In 1988, 1997 and once again in 2014, Davatz got back in touch with the same subjects and, employing the same formal approach to their portrayal, documented continuities and discontinuities, changes in their relationships and in the ways they present themselves to the world. Based on the original 12 double portraits, she was able to draw up relationship charts tracking, depending on changes of partner, up to 16 pairs or subjects over time. Their ranks have swelled over the years, with the addition of 14 children and even some grandchildren in the meantime, s