'Target Practice' © An-My Lê

I was lucky enough to be invited to participate in the St. Louis Art Museum Collectors’ Circle art-buying event recently. A group of St. Louis photography collectors came together to pick an image to contribute to the museum’s permanent photography collection. Eric Lutz, the museum’s curator of prints, drawings and photographs, did a great sales job on all the pieces and the group narrowed it down to a vintage de Meyer (the first real fashion photographer) and a super cool An-My Lê piece.

The large scale An-My Lê took the final vote. The group found the juxtaposition of the surface of the aircraft carrier and the ocean’s horizon effective as well as the brilliant graphic-matching between the human figure and the targets they just filled with holes. All together this is an amazing moment that speaks volumes about our relationship with war, humanity and the environment.

I am grateful to have it in our community’s permanent collection.