Paul Fusco: Tracks of Sorrow
Paul Fusco Untitled from The RFK train 1968 Courtesy of Magnum Photos
By Emma Coyle
When we think of motion and motion photography, we think of dancers gliding across a stage or perhaps people made still, captured between moments of intensity. Either way, we think of the subject in motion while the camera remains steady, nearly predatory in the way it remains calm until the time to pounce. But what does it mean to flip this concept? The subjects still, the camera in motion. With this particular type of photography, movement is so apparent in the way that the photographs show a blend of blur and focus while also leaving the movement out of frame.
Great work does not have to say everything. There are silences, absences. It is what people discuss when they talk about literature or theater, and it is certainly an aspect of photography. Paul Fusco’s RFK Funeral Train - 1968 is the epitome of a silence speaking louder than a direct depiction. In all the images from this collection, there are multitudes of faces staring up at the camera and at the true subject of the work, even though the subject is not present in any photograph Fusco took that day. Robert F. Kennedy’s absence seems deeply appropriate considering that people were staring at the funeral procession of a well known and beloved presidential candidate. His absence from the work echoes his absence from their lives. The camera almost seems to take the place of Kennedy, becoming the focus of the people’s staring eyes and adoration.
Paul Fusco Untitled from The RFK train 1968 Courtesy of Magnum Photos
Paul Fusco Untitled from The RFK train 1968 Courtesy of Magnum Photos
There is often a blur in the photos, presumably from the train’s constant movement toward Washington, Kennedy’s final resting place. Very infrequently do we see hints of the train itself in the work; one would only know that the photographs were taken while Fusco rode a train from the occasional glimpse of the tracks where people stood as they held signs, waved, or saluted. There is something very moving in the way that the photographer focused on the reactions of the people. Ultimately, it was these people who would be affected by the loss of life, so soon after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. It would be the people who would carry the burden, who would live with it. Daily lives were affected, changed, and moved.
The movement of the train was captured in the quality of the photographs, as the twenty-one car Penn Coastal train continued its slow pace from New York to Washington D.C. through rural and small-town communities. The train was propelled forward along the tracks and vibrated with the force of that movement. Motion is implied within the images, but it is not explicit. As Fusco shot nearly a thousand images, the day progressed and his exposure times increased. This only added to the blurred scenery. It gives the impression that time has sped up over the course of the day.
Paul Fusco Untitled from The RFK train 1968 Courtesy Danziger Gallery
The movement of the train was captured in the quality of the photographs, as the twenty-one car Penn Coastal train continued its slow pace from New York to Washington D.C. through rural and small-town communities. The train was propelled forward along the tracks and vibrated with the force of that movement. Motion is implied within the images, but it is not explicit. As Fusco shot nearly a thousand images, the day progressed and his exposure times increased. This only added to the blurred scenery. It gives the impression that time has sped up over the course of the day.
The entire collection of images works within the confines of assumption and implication. The movement itself is only seen in absence. It is not quite addressed but instead becomes an inherent aspect of all the pictures taken that day by Fusco. The faces sometimes clear but edges blur. It is as though they are moving, in the same way a person can glance out a car window and see the trees rush past them while the car seems stationary.
Paul Fusco Untitled from The RFK train 1968 Courtesy Danziger Gallery
The absence of Kennedy from Fusco’s photographs illustrates the emptiness of a country in mourning. This emptiness or sense of loss is seen all the more clearly because the images focus on reduction instead of addition. In this collection of photographs, form and content are synchronized. Fusco delicately balances motion and absence to create an atmospheric effect that could not be captured by direct depictions of loss. There is something missing in each photograph, just as there is someone missing in Washington. It resonates with the viewer and lingers, making it clear just how much of an affect this particular train would have on the entire country.
The camera was in constant motion as it moved from one location to the next, seeing into the privacy of yards or town squares. The way that Fusco captured such a cross-section of American life is directly correlated with the pathway of trains and how they are able to cut across all communities in their paths. It is impossible to stop the progression of time and the inevitable movement towards death, in the same way that it is impossible to stop the movement of the train. All of these elements, both tangible and intangible, affect people regardless of where they live or their status; they become reminders of the ways that all events will progress onwards without pausing for any bystander.
Paul Fusco Untitled from The RFK train 1968 Courtesy Danziger Gallery
Here, the movement is an aspect of the camera, the photographer, the place on which he stood. There are so many suggestions on how to capture the best images from trains. These suggestions encompass everything from a reminder that trains rumble forward–vibrating with the force of its progression–and shake must be accounted for with each click of the shutter, to the suggestion that no photographs be taken at a ninety degree angle to minimize the motion blur. Fusco perhaps considered some of these types of concerns while standing on the train that day, but perhaps he was more focused on the way capturing a sense of movement can emphasize emotions within the work.
