--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: I am suspicious and disillusioned about…" description: "\"I am suspicious and disillusioned about the uses and misuses of photography in the art world, the press, and the world of entertainment. And to make th..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/34d/alfredo-jaar-30663_art_i-am-suspicious-and-disillusioned-about_2847973.jpg" --- # I am suspicious and disillusioned about the uses and… ![“I am suspicious and disillusioned about the uses and misuses of photography in the art world, the press, and the world of entertainment. And to make things more complicated, I don't think that the general public is well educated regarding images. Generally we are taught how to read, but we are not…” quote by Alfredo Jaar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/34d/alfredo-jaar-30663_art_i-am-suspicious-and-disillusioned-about_2847973.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/34d/alfredo-jaar-30663_art_i-am-suspicious-and-disillusioned-about_2847973.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/34d/alfredo-jaar-30663_art_i-am-suspicious-and-disillusioned-about_2847973.jpg) > “I am suspicious and disillusioned about the uses and misuses of photography in the art world, the press, and the world of entertainment. And to make things more complicated, I don't think that the general public is well educated regarding images. Generally we are taught how to read, but we are not taught how to look.” [Alfredo Jaar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alfredo-jaar/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Photography manipulates perception; viewers lack visual literacy to discern truth. **In simple terms:** Images can deceive without critical viewing. Key Takeaway Learn to analyze images critically. Themes media literacy visual culture truth Mood analytical concerned Type educational philosophical When to use this quote - education curricula - news consumption - art criticism Key Concepts critical theory semiotics Questions to Reflect On - How can we teach visual literacy? - What signs reveal image manipulation? A Different Perspective Over‑analysis may lead to cynicism. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Art](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/art/) [Art world](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/art-world/) [Disillusioned](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/disillusioned/) [Entertainment](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/entertainment/) [General public](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/general-public/) [Photography](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/photography/) [Suspicious](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/suspicious/) [Thinking](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/thinking/) [World](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/world/) ## Related quotes > [It is easy to take a photograph, but it is harder to make a masterpiece in photography than in any other art medium.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ansel-adams/it-is-easy-to-take-a-photograph-but-it-is-harder-to-make-a/) [Ansel Adams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ansel-adams/) > [I collect art on a very modest scale. Most of what I have is photography because I just love it and it makes me…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chris-parnell/i-collect-art-on-a-very-modest-scale-most-of-what-i-have-is/) [Chris Parnell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chris-parnell/) > [“When we look at the old photographs, we always ask three main questions: Are they alive? If they are, where are they? And finally,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mehmet-murat-ildan/when-we-look-at-the-old-photographs-we-always-ask-three-main/) [Mehmet Murat ildan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mehmet-murat-ildan/) > [Street photography is art and if art is a crime, please God, forgive me.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-leuthard/street-photography-is-art-and-if-art-is-a-crime-please-god-forgive-me/) [Thomas Leuthard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-leuthard/) > [The camera can push the new medium to its limits - and beyond. It is there - in the "beyond" - that the imaginative…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andreas-feininger/the-camera-can-push-the-new-medium-to-its-limits-and-beyond-it-is/) [Andreas Feininger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andreas-feininger/) > [Photography is the first art wherein the tool does most of the work.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-updike/photography-is-the-first-art-wherein-the-tool-does-most-of-the-work/) [John Updike](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-updike/) > [I've always thought photography was an art form, but it had very low appreciation in the beginning, except for some Europeans, and of course…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ansel-adams/i-ve-always-thought-photography-was-an-art-form-but-it-had-very-low/) [Ansel Adams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ansel-adams/) > [... photography is just a medium. It's like a typewriter. 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The most important photography is most emphatically not Art.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/a-d-coleman/the-battle-for-the-acceptance-of-photography-as-art-was-not-only/) [A. D. Coleman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/a-d-coleman/) > [Some people's photography is an art. Not mine. Art is a dirty word in photography. All this fine art crap is killing it already.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/helmut-newton/some-people-s-photography-is-an-art-not-mine-art-is-a-dirty-word-in/) [Helmut Newton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/helmut-newton/) > [Some people's photography is an art. Mine is not. If they happen to be exhibited in a gallery or a museum, that's fine. But…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/helmut-newton/some-people-s-photography-is-an-art-mine-is-not-if-they-happen-to-be/) [Helmut Newton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/helmut-newton/) > [Only in black and white can I see the design and textures. I don't consider color photography art. Black and white is an interpretation.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/clyde-butcher/only-in-black-and-white-can-i-see-the-design-and-textures-i-don-t/) Clyde Butcher ## More by Alfredo Jaar > [ I follow many tragedies around the world. At one point I \[will\] feel like I've accumulated an enormous amount of information, a critical mass… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alfredo-jaar/i-follow-many-tragedies-around-the-world-at-one-point-i-will-feel/) [Alfredo Jaar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alfredo-jaar/) > [America is our continent. You feel in the daily language that Americans use the word "America" to erase the rest of the continent from…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alfredo-jaar/america-is-our-continent-you-feel-in-the-daily-language-that/) [Alfredo Jaar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alfredo-jaar/) > [Certainly when you do a work for a public space, you lose control.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alfredo-jaar/certainly-when-you-do-a-work-for-a-public-space-you-lose-control/) [Alfredo Jaar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alfredo-jaar/) > [I remember her eyes. The eyes of Gutete Emerita.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alfredo-jaar/i-remember-her-eyes-the-eyes-of-gutete-emerita/) [Alfredo Jaar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alfredo-jaar/) > [I think that all art is socially conscious. There is no alternative. Whatever we produce contains a political and social statement. There's no way…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alfredo-jaar/i-think-that-all-art-is-socially-conscious-there-is-no-alternative/) [Alfredo Jaar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alfredo-jaar/) > [How many languages do we really speak?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alfredo-jaar/how-many-languages-do-we-really-speak/) [Alfredo Jaar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alfredo-jaar/) > [Nowadays I see my work being used, without my permission, as if it was an attack against the Trump regime. People want to say,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alfredo-jaar/nowadays-i-see-my-work-being-used-without-my-permission-as-if-it-was/) [Alfredo Jaar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alfredo-jaar/) > [I think I'm a journalist in one sense - I want to communicate to people about certain things that are happening around us, around…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alfredo-jaar/i-think-i-m-a-journalist-in-one-sense-i-want-to-communicate-to-people/) [Alfredo Jaar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alfredo-jaar/) > [We are the result of the stimulus we receive.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alfredo-jaar/we-are-the-result-of-the-stimulus-we-receive/) [Alfredo Jaar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alfredo-jaar/) > [For me, what was important was to record everything I saw around me, and to do this as methodically as possible. In these circumstances…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alfredo-jaar/for-me-what-was-important-was-to-record-everything-i-saw-around-me/) [Alfredo Jaar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alfredo-jaar/) > [As we all know, the objective and mission of the photojournalist is to show us the reality of the world. And in order to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alfredo-jaar/as-we-all-know-the-objective-and-mission-of-the-photojournalist-is-to/) [Alfredo Jaar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alfredo-jaar/) > [Reality cannot be photographed or represented. We can only create a new reality. And my dilemma is how to make art out of a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alfredo-jaar/reality-cannot-be-photographed-or-represented-we-can-only-create-a/) [Alfredo Jaar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alfredo-jaar/) > [Journalistic information and presentation actually discourage action... we think we know, and because we think we know, we think we care. 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I'm not an artist who is in my…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alfredo-jaar/my-work-is-always-based-on-reality-i-m-not-an-artist-that-creates/) [Alfredo Jaar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alfredo-jaar/) > [Images have an advanced religion; they bury history.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alfredo-jaar/images-have-an-advanced-religion-they-bury-history/) [Alfredo Jaar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alfredo-jaar/) [Explore all 17 Alfredo Jaar quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alfredo-jaar/) ## More Art quotes > [True works of art contain their own theory and give us the measurement according to which we should judge them.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/johann-wolfgang-von-goethe/true-works-of-art-contain-their-own-theory-and-give-us-the/) [Johann Wolfgang von Goethe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/johann-wolfgang-von-goethe/) > [Before Noah, men having only water to drink, could not find the truth. Accordingly...they became abominably wicked, and they were justly exterminated by the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/benjamin-franklin/before-noah-men-having-only-water-to-drink-could-not-find-the-truth/) [Benjamin Franklin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/benjamin-franklin/) > [“Hear the sum of the whole matter in the compass of one brief word — every art possessed by man comes from Prometheus.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aeschylus/hear-the-sum-of-the-whole-matter-in-the-compass-of-one-brief-word/) [Aeschylus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aeschylus/) > [I think most artists feel like they're outside society - no matter how many accolades they receive, or how much money is in your…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aaron-rose/i-think-most-artists-feel-like-they-re-outside-society-no-matter-how/) [Aaron Rose](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aaron-rose/) > [The capacity to be puzzled is the premise of all creation, be it in art or in science.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/erich-fromm/the-capacity-to-be-puzzled-is-the-premise-of-all-creation-be-it-in/) [Erich Fromm](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/erich-fromm/) > [That's the great secret of creativity. You treat ideas like cats: you make them follow you.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ray-bradbury/that-s-the-great-secret-of-creativity-you-treat-ideas-like-cats-you/) [Ray Bradbury](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ray-bradbury/) > [“So, really," continued Jacob as if this were perfectly normal to expound on art in these circumstances, "when you think about it, the artists…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/justina-chen-headley/so-really-continued-jacob-as-if-this-were-perfectly-normal-to-expound/) [Justina Chen Headley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/justina-chen-headley/) > [“There are two options in art; either to adopt philosophical life by dissecting art, or to write your own philosophical life and claim it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/taf-teh/there-are-two-options-in-art-either-to-adopt-philosophical-life-by/) Taf Teh > [The house has to serve comfort. The work of art is revolutionary; the house is conservative.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adolf-loos/the-house-has-to-serve-comfort-the-work-of-art-is-revolutionary-the/) [Adolf Loos](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adolf-loos/) > [During human progress, every science is evolved out of its corresponding art.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/herbert-spencer/during-human-progress-every-science-is-evolved-out-of-its/) [Herbert Spencer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/herbert-spencer/) > [In literature and art memory is a synonym for invention. It is the life-blood of imagination, which faints and dies when the veins are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-aris-willmott/in-literature-and-art-memory-is-a-synonym-for-invention-it-is-the/) [Robert Aris Willmott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-aris-willmott/) > [I think a business guy is different from an artist. They walk different paths. Artists create the best outputs when they're having fun. 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