They Left Me Out Of The Picture So I Created My Own Chapter 09
At midterms, the series Leo and I collaborated on, *Inside and Outside the Frame*, was chosen as a featured project for RISD’s annual first-year exhibition.
Professor Dunn told us that gallery owners and curators from New York and Boston would be there on opening night.
That night, I wore a simple black dress and stood before a photograph that stood three meters high.
A curator from a gallery in Chelsea approached me. “Why is the center of your frame always empty?”
“Because absence isn’t the same as nonexistence,” I said. “Some people are the ones documenting everything, yet they’re left out of every image. The more obvious the blank space, the harder it is for the viewer to pretend they don’t see it.”
She asked several more questions.
I didn’t falter. I didn’t hide behind Leo.
When our conversation ended, she handed me her business card.
“Your work has real intellectual depth. Find me after you graduate.”
Across the room, Professor Dunn gave me a small, approving nod.
Once the crowd thinned, Leo pressed a glass of champagne into my hand and clinked it against mine.
“See? Told you we could do it. The way you went head-to-head with that she-devil just now? Absolutely badass.”
“If she hears you call her that, she’ll take her card back.”
“Then you’d better hide it.”
We both laughed.
I looked down at the business card, at the New York address printed on it.
Before, I stood behind the camera because no one had ever saved a place for me.
Now, in this new city, someone was inviting me into one of its most prestigious galleries because of the depth of my work.
I looked up at my name on the gallery wall.
This time, I didn’t doubt it for a second.
This was where I was supposed to be.