Collection Online as of September 30, 2023
Working
Daytime soap opera has one purpose--to sell laxatives, fast food and vitamins. Our audience is women who sit at home worrying about their health and family. We provide escapism. Tri-Valley Area, Northern California
Bill Owens
(American, b. 1938)
Gelatin silver print
Image: 16.2 x 18.6 cm (6 3/8 x 7 5/16 in.); Paper: 20.1 x 25.2 cm (7 15/16 x 9 15/16 in.)
Gift of George Stephanopoulos 2020.331
Location
not on view
Description
In his examination of people’s attitudes towards their jobs, Owens gives us the subjects’ own words to accompany his images of them. The series was not as much a critique as a mirror that allowed people some distance from which to view their situation. This and his other projects conveyed both the comfort of suburban middle class life and an undercurrent of dissatisfaction and disillusionment with it.
Bill Owens
American photographer, born 1938