What you see to your left is an entry/nominee by Sydney photographer Dean Sewell for this year's Blake prize, the prestigious award for religious art.I have to say that I fell in love with this picture as soon as I saw it. It just so beautifully captures and articulates the modern day savior that the media turned party boy Corey into. I say savior in only a Christ-like-imagery type of way, leaving all moral and ethical judgments aside. This is not about whether Corey is Christ or the devil.
For those who don't know about Corey...well, there's not much to say. A 15-year-old Victorian threw a big party, got on the news, and the media decided to make a huge deal out of it that only ended up providing too much time and money for one hardly interesting, party throwing teen. It is interesting to wonder why Corey did become such a sensation. Were all of the interviews just another type of freak show in which we (the audience) look at society's outcasts to generally feel better about ourselves?
The picture speaks to the current zeitgeist of celebrity, showing how the media, and I guess how society too, ends up inadvertently holding a celebrity to such a Christ like position by simply looking too long. Not that I am saying that every person saw Corey as a modern day Jesus Christ (in fact, quite the opposite), but the picture encapsulates how the "15 minutes of fame" can so vehemently tune in a public's gaze.
I just love it. But perhaps you disagree. Let me know what you think...
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