civilized ku # 39 ~ a walk in the forest #7

Traces and evidence of a different world • click to embiggenThe picture that is the subject of today's entry is, for me, a very interesting one. It addresses a sentence written by Graham Clarke in his book The Photograph - '...they return art photography to a popular forum, releasing it to deal with the terms of our existence rather than the idea of formal content divorced from the world of its meaning.' FYI, the 'they' he refers to are various so-called postmodernist photographers.

I mentioned in an earlier entry that what observers 'read' and subsequently get from a picture is based, for the most part, on the their own life experience. The photographer creates a world that the viewer may enter and explore at will, right up to the limits of his/her ability to use their imagination in coaxing meaning from the signs/signifiers found in all pictures.

My imagination was greatly influenced by my upbringing in a Roman Catholic environment. All of my education was presented to me on a platter from the hands of 'people of the cloth' - nuns, brothers and priests (Jesuit) or lay persons so chosen to reflect their RC sensibilities. Part of what I took away from the experience was two-fold - a sense that things were not always (if ever) what they seemed to be, and, a deep and abiding sense of curiousity/need to find out. The main influences were 'mission babies' and the Jesuit propensity to pose questions and then let you figure it out for yourself - just like Brian (from Monty Python's Life of Brian) said, '... You don't NEED to follow ME, You don't NEED to follow ANYBODY! You've got to think for your selves ...!'

Both of these qualities have certainly provided me with a couple of personal assets which dovetail nicely with postmodern sensibilities. One could say that, from a very early age, I was predisposed in life to wrestle with the terms of our existence and to look beyond the idea of formal content divorced from the world of its meaning - in the context of 'life', read 'formal content' to mean 'accepted' dogma (art, religion, politics, culture).

Since my Art is more than just personal entertainment and is an extention of who and what I am, it just seems that I am, by nature and nurture, a postmodernist through and through. While many who distain postmodernism in Art dismiss it as an adopted affection, nothing could be further from the truth. In my particular case, (and I am sure that of many others) I was a 'postmodernist' in thought and action (life and art) long before I even heard the term.

And that's why a walk in the forest # 7 is interesting to me. Amongst the many emotions and questions that the picture creates for me, I am curious to know why someone who lives in the largest wilderness in the lower 48 would chose to build a fire ring and bench on an upper level of an abandoned mill - although I must admit that the tree growing through an opening is a very nice touch.

I came across this scene near the end of my walk and it was interesting to encounter signs of human construction in the midst of decay and destruction. I also wonder if the constructor had a direct or legacy connection to the mill - a relative who worked there, perhaps. Did the mill's demise effect them personally?

On the other hand, maybe it's just a hangout for teenagers - it is hard to access and not visible from ground level. It would be a great place to cop a first feel, smoke a little dope or drink some beer without too much chance of adult interference.

Who knows? - but, that's exactly what interests me because I am drawn to pictures which '...seek[s] meaning in what is to hand, so that the camera is part of a constant probing and measure of one's terms of existence; the daily rhythms and objects of everyday life.' (again from Graham Clarke).