PHOTOGRAPHIC POETRY

Photographing unimportant things
or that which may seem unimportant:
the trivia of daily life –
a sheet in the wind,
a shaft of light on a wine glass,
an argument with a ‘superior’,
may suggest something more.

The Italian sculptor Giacometti wrote,
“looking is an interrogation of the absolute”.
That says ‘artists must always be curious –‘
a curiosity which at the worst of times,
politicians and police will call ‘snooping.’
Is it any wonder,
that the hierarchies* who dominate our lives
have only contempt for artists
unless they can decorate their palaces or entertain them?

If before “making”,
through contemplation and discovery,
artists may transform trivia by their gaze and skills
into a reflection of history
or destiny or of life itself,
or of power, wealth or poverty,
of gods or holy spirits,
of certainty or confusion,
or of being and nothingness**.

The transformation
needs the artist’s experience, commitment and sincerity
to render with certainty the fish into spirit,
the mountain into grandeur,
the women into love.
the child into innocence.

I learned that trivia, the humble, the unbeautiful
could become a poetic metaphor for things which make us human.
I also learned that small-mindedness, petty concerns, storms in tea cups
are the intellectual and emotional bastions
of those who have been turned away from critical thinking,
from truth-seeking self-enquiry
or those concerned only with money, power and control
and that our desire to be free and to express that freedom
threatens derision and exclusion from those owing our lives.

I say, keep making challenging art.

NOTE
*Note that after most invasions by another faction, tribe, nation into another, amongst the first people to be arrested are the potential opposition political leaders, trade unionists and artists. That is a reflection of how fearful the barbarians are of the arts and artists. It is also a reflection of how powerful the arts are in changing peoples attitudes, of waking people up, of providing an example of what is honourable, fair, nobel, moral.

** To Existentialists, human beings — through their consciousness — create their own values and determine a meaning for their life because the human being does not possess any inherent identity or value. That identity or value must be created by the individual. By creating the acts that constitute them, they make their existence more significant. Artists, through their constant creation are at the forefront of that drive to define their value. (a WIKI adaptation)

*If you wish to see more of my photographs go here.

*Coming soon PHOTOGRAPHY:Making Meaning - a series of 12 x 26 minute films which will take the viewer on a journey of cultural history leading to present day photography, filled with tools and ideas to help the viewer discover ways of uncovering and using one’s deepest concerns to make beautiful photographs.

You can see a trailer here.