i watched the documentary "the wonderful/horrible life of leni riefenstahl" (1993, by ray muller) earlier tonight. it reminded me of a heated discussion at photo.net at the time of her death in 2003. i remember adding something along the lines of '...one cannot admire the painting of an outhouse without also acknowledge the stench...' but that got deleted from the thread.

i cannot adequately reflect on her life/work just yet. i need some time. but one question that surfaces is: should one recognize or judge the art of a person that puts her/his creative talent to use for an evil/wrong cause? even if this person pioneered many aspects and/or techniques of, in this case, images making?

the situation surrounding leni riefenstahl is very complex and one must also consider historical context, but nevertheless i have deep reservations about awarding any amount of praise and/or recognition for an artist that believed in and glorified hitler, who's work furthered the nazi cause, regardless of the creator's talent and ingenuity/creativity. an image-maker definitely has a greater responsibility and cannot turn the other cheek to the context within which her/his work is being shown.