Peter Yang made a picture of Barack Obama that stands out amongst the field of competent but unrevealing images of the new president (I’m referring to the picture to the right, with Obama pointing straight at the camera).

The image looks as though it has been shot off the cuff, a simple idea (whether from Obama or Yang), executed simply and superbly. This is the image of a ‘wired’ candidate that Obama would want to present. Surrounded by a messy, work in progress, array of gadgets, he has time for a gesture that is both ironic, playful but goes to the heart of his message and his ability of obliquely referencing of the image of the iconic JFK.

While I struggled to keep my interest past page 20 of Obamas first biography (which is not to denigrate Obamas writing skills, rather my own attention deficit), I learnt at least that Obama is fantastically skilled at creating a compelling personal narrative and at playing ‘the long game’. Peter Yang shares (colludes?) in this picture which reveals more layers of signification the longer its read.

Obama projects the image of the ‘cool’ computer user, but deflects the potential conflict of interest with a pac man sticker eating his apple. Not one but two external hard drives suggests an inner geek who knows about redundant data backup. But is this even his own gear, or the photographers? In the foreground an out of focus image of a black man (a leader? Martin Luther King?) evokes the black political experience, and to the left, a pair of sunglasses, hooks in a reminiscence of Will Smith in his Men in Black shades.

Situated in some nonplace of a campaign event, the flexible barriers behind him frame his shirt with black, black crossed against radiant white; there’s even a subtle evocation of the messianic in the image.

In the end its the gesture and the rolled up sleeves that dominate this moment, its the projection of an image of a man who intends to get things done. Whether this is proof of a great photographer, or proof of a politician who is a supreme image manipulator, or a combination of both, I’m unsure. But its a political portrait that deserves to be seen.

http://www.peteryang.com/pages/a4/obama.html

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