Black and whites portraits, 1900’s

Yousuf Karsh at the Sejong Center, some Saturday afternoon in March. Us three file into the queue and begin the drag from photo to photo along the human conveyer belt. Like all hyped-as-famous exhibitions in Seoul, this weekend’s show is packed with vultures eager to say they saw it. Us included.

The string from the necks in front of us pulls us from shots of Prince William to ones of Bridgette Bardot, Picasso, Princess Grace Kelly, Old Man and the Sea-era Hemingway; Helen Keller. The name plaques tell most of the 1900’s.

Melanie knows the names of all the architects and black-and-white film actors. Joe can read Korean and pretends he’s familiar with all the personas and positions of the portraits. We know better than to believe him, but appreciate the crude jokes that follow.

The traffic jam starts at the Warhol and leads to Elizabeth and Tiffany’s era Audrey. Liz just died. Outside there are flowers under the advertisement. We’ve seen the images on the postcards in the gift shop already, and slip past after a peek between shoulders.

Bizarrely, the show ends with shots of prairie Saskatchewan, downtown Toronto, and some non-famous people. The culmination couldn’t have been more appropriate if we were the personal guests of honor.