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Untitled from the series Family Docudrama
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© Eileen Cowin
Purchased with funds provided by the Photographs Council of the J. Paul Getty Museum

Eileen Cowin
American, 1980 - 1983
Chromogenic print
19 1/16 x 23 7/8 in.
2008.35.1

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In her series Family Docudrama Cowin blurs the boundaries between truth and fiction, and private behavior and public performance. Drawing equally from family snapshots and soap operas, she presents staged domestic scenes in which she and members of her family, including her identical twin sister, perform as actors. In these ambiguous, open-ended narratives, dramatic moments are exaggerated and the camera's glare is ever present.