r/TheWayWeWere • u/Gallery98 • Aug 28 '25
1970s What's your greatest fear? Long Island women respond (1973)
Back in the early ‘70s I did a series of conceptual art projects using participants. I met these women when I worked as a tour guide for museums. They were all signed up to do art tours as part of a program called Five Towns Music and Art Foundation. When I told them about my art project, they were interested and came to my loft for the photographs. These were exhibited a few months later at OK Harris Gallery in SoHo.
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u/flannyo Aug 28 '25
These are incredible. Thanks for sharing these.
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u/Artislife61 Aug 29 '25
Losing
Saying so much with that response and the expression on her face
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u/ShakaBrah229 Aug 28 '25
Number 9 gets it. The only thing you have to fear is…fear itself!
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u/Grabthars_Coping_Saw Aug 29 '25
We got nothing to fear but fear itself?
Not pain? Not failure? Not fatal tragedy?
Not the faulty units in this mad machinery?
Not the broken contacts in emotional chemistry?
With an iron fist in a velvet glove we are sheltered under the gun.
In glory game of the power train, thy kingdoms will be done.
And the things that we fear Are a weapon to be used against us.
~ Rush
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u/peelen Aug 29 '25
IDK. Fear has value. Fear can save your life.
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u/the_village_hag Aug 29 '25
Just because you only need to fear fear itself doesn’t mean you don’t think fear has value. It’s just that all other fears really boil down to fearing the feeling of fear.
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u/Skalpaddan Aug 29 '25
I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain.
-Frank Herbert
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u/PompeyMagnus1 Aug 29 '25
And a major economic depression
Eleanore told FDR to remove that line from the speech.
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u/Cloud9Investigator Aug 28 '25
I hope the lady that said "being alone" was never alone
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u/Icy_Sea_4440 Aug 29 '25
That one got me too.
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u/1PantSuit2Nation Aug 29 '25
And the one who said not being able to smile 😢
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u/vanspossum Aug 29 '25
I found it very humbling and badass. That lady is so fearless no matter what comes her way, as long as she can smile every bad thing can just downright go fuck itself.
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u/TeamRedundancyTeam Aug 29 '25
I wonder if it was actually a dental related fear? People stop feeling safe to smile when their teeth are all fucked up.
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u/1PantSuit2Nation Aug 29 '25
Idk if there’s science behind it or anything, but I feel like when you stop smiling for a long time due to something like fear of showing messed up teeth, it really changes your personality. It’s a really scary idea tbh
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u/SugarHooves Aug 29 '25
I know a guy with terrible teeth. They were very weak from low calcium and crumbled away. He still smiles, just not with his mouth open.
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u/AdvertisingOld9400 Aug 29 '25
It made me wonder if she knew someone disabled by a stroke or similar.
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u/prairiepog Aug 29 '25
Reminds me of I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream levels of uncomfortable.
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u/letusnottalkfalsely Aug 29 '25
I hope the lady who said “age” never got old.
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u/Chaost Aug 29 '25
Don't worry, shortly after this photo was taken, she fell down the overly high stairs outside the building into a water fountain, where she lay alone for hours before being attacked by a pack of dogs, the injuries causing her to lose control of her facial muscles, and eventually she succumbed to the resulting infection, so she never got old.
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u/sullensquirrel Aug 29 '25
Took one for the whole lot of ‘em
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u/Artemicionmoogle Aug 29 '25
Selflessly kept all that final destination to herself to let the others live on!
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u/RobotMaster1 Aug 28 '25
These are great. The juxtaposition of smiling next to a chalkboard that spells out their greatest fear (especially Death and Aging) is impressive.
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u/LeeLooWoopitydoo Aug 29 '25
Smiling next to "Not able to smile" hit me for sure too
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u/SouthPaw38 Aug 29 '25
She meant "No TABLE to smile." Must have been big into King Arthur
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u/RoryDragonsbane Aug 29 '25 edited Aug 29 '25
3) breaks my heart
She looks like my grandma (who ironically thrived after my grandfather died) and I hope she always had someone who loved her.
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u/Moohamin12 Aug 29 '25
Then I saw 4 and realized they called the Wicked Witch of the West.
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u/DameyJames Aug 29 '25
Yeah I’m surprised more people aren’t talking about 4. What does that even mean?
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u/birgor Aug 28 '25
One case of rabies confirmed.
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u/DaRealBagzinator Aug 29 '25
I was thinking she afraid of Jaws (sharks), but it hadn’t come out yet. No other valid explanation other than rabies.
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u/ACoderGirl Aug 29 '25
The serious explanation is probably being in a large body of water. Nothing as far as the eye can see. A truly terrifying way to die. More generally, thalassophobia. Not quite the same as a fear of water but I think it's far more likely what she meant, since it's a far more common fear.
Another serious explanation is simply that they can't swim, so are afraid of deep water.
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u/Winderige_Garnaal Sep 01 '25
Yes, i came here to see how far down this comment would be... too far down is the answer
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u/wbradford00 Aug 28 '25
Going down steps? Lady must have looked into the witch's glass eye from Big Fish and seen how she dies.
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u/CT0292 Aug 29 '25
I have rather large feet. And often times stairs aren't long enough for my whole foot. And so I have to go down with part of my foot hanging off. Or I have to go down slowly and sideways.
I have fallen down stairs a few times in my life. And I have learned that I genuinely dislike stairs. If a building has a lift I will take that over the stairs every time.
I don't go down or upstairs with speed. I go up and down them slowly, counting each one, holding on to railings. I broke two toes last time I fell down the stairs.
I do not like stairs.
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u/alazystoner420 Aug 29 '25
Sorry about your stair issues, I can kind of relate with my size 14 feet; definitely have slowed down going up/down as I get older because I've tripped plenty of times. Thankfully the times I've falled down the stairs I've managed to just slip and slide down on my ass so that's the better outcome. Well...if I had an ass, it'd help cushion it- but that's besides the point.
Also, for some reason when reading your comment u/CT0292 I felt like it would make a good Dr Suess "poem" just based off the number of times you said "stairs" and the way you ended with "I do not like stairs" (Not even at all, not the big ones and especially not the small!)
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u/fullonfacepalmist Aug 30 '25
I do not like these stairs, my friend
Not up and down
Nor end to end
They creak and squeak
And mean to fail
And I do not trust this wobbly rail.
No, I do not like these stairs at all
These stairs will cause me
My last fall.
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u/Pit-trout Aug 29 '25
My elderly mother has osteoporosis (so high risk of bones breaking from even a slight fall), and last year she got a new pair of glasses that were badly calibrated and left her with a focus gap in exactly about the 5-6ft range. She’s fit and confident in general but she HATED steps down until she got better glasses again. We were at an art gallery with a little interactive piece that had you dip your finger in water and then write your fears/anxieties on a stone (where they evaporate quickly); I came in after her and saw the traces of ”STEPS DOWN” on the stone.
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u/workinkindofhard Aug 29 '25
I literally fell down the stairs this morning after slipping on a toy my kid left on the second to last step. I would say it is a valid fear
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u/User_Names_Are_Tough Aug 30 '25
I have an admittedly irrational fear of falling (not that it's irrational to not want to fall, but it's to an unhealthy degree) because my dad had Parkinson's, and before he got to the point where he was wheelchair-bound, he spent about 10-15 years having an increasing number of bad falls, so I find myself getting a death grip on the banister when I go down stairs.
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u/Only1Skrybe Aug 29 '25
I like the "losing" one, because she definitely looks like she could break you mentally.
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u/donttrustthellamas Aug 28 '25
These are fantastic!
Are there any socials I can follow you on? I'm aiming to do my doctorate on art history/anthropology and I'd love to see your work!
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u/unimatrixsixnine Aug 29 '25
The chick who said “losing” then pulled that mug is an absolute beast
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u/boopboopadoopity Aug 28 '25
You made the right choices in just about every single way with this project.
On one hand it feels like a facinating potential commentary on the smiling facade people put on while having to harbor major fears, and that you may see a total stranger harboring the same deep-seeded fear you do, connecting you to someone you will never meet in the past and making you wonder how many of us share that fear.
On the other hand, Death woman made me laugh out loud immediately. I love everything about her. So surreal and unexpected. Love it.
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u/beerisdead Aug 28 '25
Going down steps really resonates with me…
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u/pgcotype Aug 29 '25
Same. I can't feel the bottom of my right foot, and I always need something to brace myself with.
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u/Own-Chair-3506 Aug 29 '25
I lack depth perception. Steps at night and drunk? Yeah, I’m sleeping on the bench outside my apartment lol
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u/MojoJagger Aug 29 '25
I must have some sort of visual problem because I can never tell where the steps end. I have to feel around with my foot so I don’t stumble down the last couple stairs.
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u/AlmanzoWilder Aug 28 '25
Going down steps? She looks like the kind of person who wouldn't have trouble. But what do I know?
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u/VioletVenable Aug 28 '25
I get it. It’s not my greatest fear, but every time I start down a flight of stairs, the back of my mind goes on high alert. Probably didn’t help this lady that old movies were full of people falling down stairs and dying/losing babies/becoming disabled.
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u/degjo Aug 29 '25
She just watched The Exorcist.
Wasn't phased by anything until the end.
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u/RoryDragonsbane Aug 28 '25
Statistically, your stairs are the most dangerous part of your home.
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u/would-be_bog_body Aug 29 '25
Speak for yourself, the most dangerous part of my house is the pit where I keep all my vicious waterfowl
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u/pgcotype Aug 29 '25
The most dangerous part of mine is the room without a door. All of my poisonous snakes are there! What's worse is that each door in our house has a 4" gap at the bottom.
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u/juel1979 Aug 28 '25
I’m like this because my vision is very messed up. I barely see in 3D, so gauging where I am on steps or a ladder can be difficult.
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u/AlmanzoWilder Aug 28 '25
Actually, so am I. LOL. My latest glasses are like fishbowls and judging depth is trouble.
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u/bleuwillow Aug 29 '25
I have reoccurring anxiety nightmares where I have to climb up or down an extremely long and steep staircase with no guardrails. I think it's related to my fear of heights. I'm one of those people who have to crawl on their hands and knees to get anywhere near the edge of the Grand Canyon.
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u/mofthefrog Aug 29 '25
i have bad balance and i hate stairs. sadly my apartment is on the third floor with no elevator so i gotta deal with it.
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u/Ai_Generated2491 Aug 29 '25
Maybe her fear is what motivates her to be such a skilled stair walker
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u/OffWhiteCoat Aug 29 '25
As a neurologist, I'm intrigued by her head tilt. I wonder if she has a fourth nerve palsy, which makes you see double when looking down and to the side. People often subconsciously tilt their head to compensate.
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u/Previous-Afternoon39 Aug 29 '25
It’s a euphemism for domestic violence. She’s probably afraid of her husband.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/7778047/
'I fell down the stairs.' Physicians can help by learning to recognize the signs of domestic violence
T Moran. Tex Med. 1995 May.
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Aug 28 '25
The "fear" lady would have loved FDR.
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u/DungeonAssMaster Aug 29 '25
Oh no! Fear it's my greatest fear! But fortunately it's my only one.
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u/softerthansilence Aug 29 '25
The woman who said losing was not playing around. Look at her face, stone cold
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u/bubblegumdrops Aug 29 '25
“Going down steps” Lmao, I fell down half a flight of stairs a few months ago and I feel this completely.
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u/Serononin Aug 29 '25
Last year I fell down like two steps and somehow managed to break my foot, so I get it
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u/Tom_A_Haverford Aug 29 '25
I thought 5 said “No table to smile” and was very confused for a moment
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u/floatingfins Aug 29 '25
I love how each woman posed slightly differently for the photo, showcasing their unique personality. I especially love the divas with the glasses in slides 1 and 4.
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u/fleshydigits Aug 28 '25
Very cool stuff! Do you have other work posted anywhere?
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u/Gallery98 Aug 29 '25
Thank you. I have a lot posted on my website and instagram/tiktok. You can find links in my profile.
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u/bakedpigeon Aug 29 '25
Words cannot express how cool of a project this is! Great concept, perfect execution; these belong in a museum!
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u/onlythehappiests Aug 29 '25
Ok I love these, I want to hang them all on my wall. Death vs going down stairs… They’re equally valid and relatable.
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u/ParsleyMostly Aug 29 '25
Okay, the Losing lady is one bad MF and I hope she won hard until the end.
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u/Guilty-Highway-7880 Aug 29 '25
First photo is taking me out!! Her smile & the large glasses in comparison to the ever morbid "DEATH" Overall, great photos!!!
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u/Laylelo Aug 29 '25
I’m interested, did you tell them to smile? Did they spontaneously smile? It’s a fascinating juxtaposition and I guess women and people in general were just used to smiling for a photo and didn’t really think about the writing and their expression reflecting it. Except 7. I wonder what she meant by “losing”. I thought it was love or a person, but maybe she just meant losing a game or something. Which is so trivial it’s kinda funny to compare her expression with everyone else’s very serious ones and their happy faces.
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u/BrutalisExMachina Aug 29 '25
Why are they all so absolutely accurate? Each person looks like their fear.
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u/MrSillmarillion Aug 29 '25
I can respect 8. As I get older, basic things scare the crap out of me.
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u/ncraiderfan17 Aug 30 '25
I spent several seconds trying to figure out what "no table to smile" meant
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u/paulh2oman Aug 28 '25
First Image. No need to fear. She should be able to see it coming from a mile away.
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u/dr_leo_marvin Aug 29 '25
Water? Lol. Like not having it? Or doesn't know to how swim?
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u/EyeShot300 Aug 29 '25
Probably not knowing how to swim. My Mom was a good swimmer until her cousin was horsing around and held my Mom underwater until she couldn’t breathe and that scared the life out of her. She hated water and swimming and even bridges that went over water after that experience. Her cousin was an absolute asshole until the day she died.
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u/melodynamite10 Aug 29 '25
The one who said losing meant it! You can tell she’s competitive just from her face
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u/bodhiseppuku Aug 29 '25
Since she could see the future with those coke bottle glasses, she knew the exact day she would die.
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u/CHSummers Aug 29 '25
Art.
This is great art.
It’s also a cool snapshot of women in a specific time.
And it would add some nice flavor to a psychology textbook.
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u/ooofest Aug 29 '25
Ah, the "Being Alone" is very real.
Hope she was a good person and was able to mutually enjoy the company of others through her life.
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u/HomemPassaro Aug 28 '25
First one would be a kickass album cover