Bill Yates, Untitled (R30-6), from the series Sweetheart Roller Skating Rink, negative 1972-73 (printed 2015), Gelatin silver print, Museum purchase with funds provided by Wellesley College Friends of Art 2015.47

Bill Yates travelled weekly to rural Florida to photograph the patrons of the Sweetheart Roller Skating Rink from the fall of 1972 to the spring of 1973. At the time, Yates was finishing his bachelor’s degree at the University of South Florida, and about to begin an MFA in photography at the Rhode Island School of Design. Yates shot hundreds of photos at the Sweetheart, and later stored more than 800 negatives in a box forgotten until 30 years later. Only a few of these were printed for gallery exhibitions, including this one purchased for the Davis in 2015. Initially Yates’ subjects were wary of his presence, but as time passed he was increasingly able to catch them in candid moments, or convince them to perform for the camera. In this untitled photograph a young man—cigarette in hand—pulls a girl close from behind and nestles his face in her hair. The girl wears an enigmatic expression: perhaps it is the surprise of Yates’ camera flash, or perhaps a reaction to the young man’s escapades. Behind them two witnesses react, reinforcing the active and candid nature of Yates’ work.

-- Melina Mardueño ’18, Summer Curatorial Intern (2017)