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Collections

Gory (Rogelio López Marín)
It’s Only Water in the Teardrop of a Stranger (Es sólo agua en la lagrima de un extraño)1986, printed 2002

Not on view
Color photograph looking down at a swimming pool's edge, with two curved chrome handrails on a weathered deck, a band of sandy coping stone, and dark rippling water filling the upper frame; handwritten text below
Handwritten cursive text in black ink on white paper, reading: "Its only water in a strangers tear / Like a swimmer trapped beneath a layer of ice, I keep searching for an air-hole..."
Color photograph of a tidal ocean pool viewed from pool deck level, with two metal entry handrails in the foreground, a pale tiled pool edge, dark churning water merging with open sea, and a stormy cloud-filled sky; handwritten text in cursive script runs along the bottom margin.
Detail of a work with handwritten cursive text in blue ink below a partial image, reading: '...but I never find one. I've swum for a lifetime holding my breath. I can't think how the rest of you manage it.'
Color photograph of metal pool handrails in the foreground, a tiled pool edge leading to dark open water and a rocky breakwater under a dramatic overcast sky; cursive handwritten text along the bottom margin.
Handwritten text in blue ink on white background, reading: 'We are blind—dazzled by the future. We never perceive what lies before us, never foresee the next moment until it hits us in the face. We see only what we have already seen, in other words, nothing.'
Color photograph looking down over metal pool entry rails toward a dark, still body of water with flooded parkland and trees visible in the distance; handwritten text in cursive appears below the image border.
Handwritten text in black ink on white paper reads: "I can't be the only one to have noticed, I am not that smart. They've mostly agreed not to talk about it."
Color photograph, a pale yellow 1970s American sedan parked on wet pavement reflected in rain puddles, viewed from low angle with curved metal handrails in the foreground; handwritten cursive text below the image.
Handwritten cursive text in ink on white ground, reading: "As blindly as we all do throughout our lives, never knowing what the next moment will bring, or whether our next step will land us on terra firma or send us tumbling into the void."
Color photograph of a transit platform viewed from ground level, with two metal bollards in the foreground, a wet platform surface reflecting light in the middle ground, and a dim station interior with figures visible through windows in the background. Handwritten cursive text below the image.
Handwritten cursive text in blue ink below a partially visible image, reading: "It seemed to me that I'd landed up in the wrong dream or the wrong world, or that I myself was wrong for this world—or dream, as the case may be."
Color photograph of two curved black metal handrails rising from a worn concrete pool deck, with a pale tiled ledge and dark, textured ceiling overhead; handwritten cursive text in the lower margin.
Handwritten text in blue ink cursive script on white paper, reading: "If it's true that I'm just a collective dream – that you dreamed me from the first, that I've never existed outside the minds of my audience – then I beg you, from the bottom of my heart, to release me. Dream of something else from now on, not of me."
Color photograph of an abandoned outdoor swimming pool viewed from the shallow end, with dark stagnant water, deteriorating concrete walls, metal entry rails in the foreground, and a diving board visible at far end; handwritten text in cursive script below the image.
Partial view of an artwork showing handwritten cursive text in black ink on white: "I can't endure it any longer. I don't expect you to wake up. Sleep on for as long as you please, and sleep sound, but dream of me no more."
Color photograph with deep blue-green toning of an empty outdoor pool or terrace, ringed by wooden slatted chairs facing inward, under a dramatic storm-lit sky with heavy clouds; distant hills and water visible on the horizon; handwritten cursive text below the image.
Partial view of a photograph or print showing a close-up of rough stone or brick pavement at top, with handwritten cursive text below reading: "Tell me something, ladies and gentlemen: what becomes of a dream when its dreamer awakes? Nothing? Does it cease to exist?"
Artist or Maker
Gory (Rogelio López Marín)
Title
It’s Only Water in the Teardrop of a Stranger (Es sólo agua en la lagrima de un extraño)
Place Made
Cuba
Date Made
1986, printed 2002
Medium
Nine gelatin-silver prints, toned
Dimensions
Image: 18 3/4 x 12 3/4 in. (47.63 x 32.39 cm) each; Sheet: 19 7/8 x 16 in. (50.49 x 40.64 cm) each; Mat: 24 x 18 in. (60.96 x 45.72 cm) each
Credit Line
Photographic Arts Council, 2001
Accession Number
M.2002.25.1-.9
Classification
Photographs
Collecting Area
Photography