Walking Camera (Jimmy the Camera)

In the late 1980s, after working on various series of images that featured figurines, dolls, and puppets, Laurie Simmons created a group of large-scale photographs of inanimate objects on legs. This project, called “Walking Objects,” showcased everything from a house to a petit four as its subjects. The first image Simmons produced for the series was Walking Camera. Using a camera costume prop from the film The Wiz, Simmons convinced her mentor and friend Jimmy De Sana to model it. Referencing the 1950s-era television commercials of dancing cigarette cartons which she recalled from her youth, Simmons photographed De Sana as an animate camera in the studio, set against a dark, sharply lit backdrop. The resulting image serves not only as a commentary on the representation of women in popular culture but also as a fitting tribute to De Sana, who taught Simmons about photography.