Bruce Jackson Being There: Freedom of Expression

Throughout the run of Being There: Bruce Jackson Photographs 1962-2010, the artist is sharing some of the stories behind his photographs.Being There is on view until June 16, 2013. The catalog accompanying the exhibition is available at The Museum Store at the Burchfield Penney.

Diane and I were in Rome in 2002 and our good friend Alessandro Portelli took us to a concert in a grungy joint with only two doors. It was a great concert but I kept thinking, If there is a fire we are all going to die. But there was no fire, and later, Diane, Sandro, his wife, and I walked back to their car talking about how good the concert had been and how nervous we'd all been about the space. And then, on a side street, I saw this graffito. I only had a little pocket camera with me and the light was lousy, but the graffito was fabulous. I took a few shots, not knowing if anything useful would come of them. But something did. "Freedom of Expression." Hooray for that anonymous Roman with the side street spraycan!

-Bruce Jackson