Exhibition Review: Merry Alpern: Dirty Windows
Merry Alpern, Dirty Windows 1993, © Merry Alpern / Galerie Miranda
Written by Moksha Akil
Edited by Parker Renick
Photo Edited by Lucia Luzzani
Seemingly degenerate photos in such a clean environment, this is Merry Alpern’s Dirty Windows (1983). A collection created from debauchery and hidden moments stands in the Galerie Miranda, a Parisian gallery that celebrates female artists like Alpern. Dirty Windows was created in the Wall Street district of New York when Alpern observed the windows across from the apartment she was in. The windows opened a world hidden to her previously—a world hidden from the masses. As she gazed across the street, Alpern was looking into the bathroom of a hidden lap-dance club, one meant for the high and mighty of the Wall Street world. She witnessed their secret lives, and suddenly, they were no longer a secret. The men were in suits and ties, and the women in G-strings and black lace. Looking into the dirty window of the bathroom, she captured it all from the back room of the apartment.
Merry Alpern, Dirty Windows 1993, © Merry Alpern / Galerie Miranda
Merry Alpern, Dirty Windows 1993, © Merry Alpern / Galerie Miranda
The contrast between the submissive and dominant, the upper class and lower class, the client and worker, has never been more apparent, and the black and white film only emphasizes it more. It materializes the raw emotion felt in the scene while supporting the enigmatic atmosphere. The blurred lines preserve the concealed nature of the scenes she captured. In each photo, no matter how little of a subject can be seen, the emotion and energy of the environment can be experienced by the viewer. Alpern captured a clandestine world through film and showed its debauchery to the world for us to experience in full view. She showed us just how much we needed to know. Through her film, we see the intimacy of the moments she viewed in person.
Merry Alpern, Dirty Windows 1993, © Merry Alpern / Galerie Miranda
Merry Alpern, Dirty Windows 1993, © Merry Alpern / Galerie Miranda
Alpern captured different subjects—both the client and the dancer. One of the photos above shows a man in a suit with his tie barely in view. His hand is on his belt, a black line skews the view, but the idea is clear. The grain makes it clear, and the story Alpern wanted to capture through her art is conveyed properly and in its entirety. The story is told between this image and the other photos.
The spectacles that Alpern captures, as well as the different characters she places in film, are built up by the stark contrasts between each photo. The man in the suit in photo four and the woman in the G-string in photo twelve are part of the same community at that moment. Their attire is completely different, but they are taking part in the same activity. Yet only one is wearing their clothes.
Merry Alpern, Dirty Windows 1993, © Merry Alpern / Galerie Miranda
All of her subjects being a part of the same scene but with contrasting reasons for being there add to the mystery of Dirty Windows. There is a history to this collection—something more that the viewer wants to know; yet they will never be able to. Photos such as seven add to this mystery and curiosity in the viewer. Alpern captured an intimate moment—one we know nothing of. In capturing the intimacy, she captured the apathy and insincerity as well. There is a stark harshness in the woman’s face in photo seven. Harshness in intimacy is what Alpern saw through those windows of Wall Street, manufactured intimacy perhaps.
Dirty Windows is part of Marry Alpern and Harry Gruyaert’s Société/Spectacle exhibition, and can be viewed from February 2 to April 30, 2022 at Galerie Miranda, in Paris.
