decay # 16 ~ the anatomy of disgust
Monday, April 7, 2008 at 12:26PM 
Cantaloupe and grater • click to embiggenAmongst many things, I have always considered the act of picturing to be an act in the process of self-discovery.
Why one pictures, what one pictures and how one pictures it speaks volumes about the photographer, especially so (but not entirely limited to) Fine Art photographers - who, for purposes of this entry, are those who are making pictures that are meant to be more than just decorative.
The more one knows about and understands his/her personal whys, whats, and hows, the better he/she is apt to become at forming and expressing one's personal vision, photography-wise. This is not rocket science - the best Art flows from within and the more one is in touch with the within, the better one's Art is apt to become.
That said, much of my personal vision that flows from within is an unthought known. I tend to follow my 'inner voice' which 'tells' me what to picture. Of course, I do not mean that I hear a voice in my head that says, "take a picture of that cantaloupe". Rather, I am acutely aware of an unbidden impulse to picture something that I am actually seeing at the time.
Currently, in addition to my attraction to the natural world and man's relationship to it, I am drawn to decay. Some have speculated that the attraction is that of someone who is himself, 'decaying' (commonly called "aging"). I wouldn't deny that that may play a part in the attraction but, in fact, I have been attracted to decay since early childhood.
I can say that I have never tried to understand the attraction nor have I ever pictured it as a body of work until quite recently. As a result of that picturing and the desire to better understand it, I have been thinking about decay (the "what") in a effort to discover (the) "why" I am picturing it.
Until last seek, the best I have been able to come up with is that, on a visual level, I find a great deal of visual beauty in decay. When asked about that idea of visual beauty, the best I can muster is to say that I like the colors and the textures of decay after which I throw in the metaphor bit about "the cycles of life" and the part of that cycle that most would rather not think about / deal with. At that point, I start to feel that I'm sounding a lot like a rather lame first-year art student mouthing art-cliches.
However, in my pursuit of knowing more, I went back to a resource that I knew about but never pursued - the book, The Anatomy of Disgust" (by William Ian Miller, Harvard University Press), because, regarding my decay pictures, I have heard the phrase "that's disgusting" quite a number of times. No big surprise - many find decay to be disgusting. Some have higher or lower thresholds of when decay becomes disgusting, but, inevitably, the word "disgusting" seems to be a common reaction to my decay pictures.
A quick perusal of Miller's book reveals that he believes, and for which he builds a very convincing case, that "Disgust helps mark boundaries of culture and boundaries of the self." I found that premise very interesting. Miller states "Consider that the boundary of the self is manned at its most crucial and vulnerable points by disgust ..."
By that he means that disgust is a barrier that humans erect to help define what they consider to be invasions of not only the "self" but also of "cultures". Who are the "intruders"? Miller considers them to range from humble items like hair, sweat, pus and excrement - what Mr. Miller calls "thick, greasy life" - up to more formidable threats from exotic ethnic groups or social classes higher or lower than our own. In short, he builds a great case for how disgust is clearly bound up with class, bourgeois good taste and moral values.
Now I feel much better. My decay pictures are all about class, bourgeois good taste, moral values, and cultural and personal boundaries, not just the lame "cycles of life" thing.
I knew that.
Really. As an unthought known, I have known that for most of my adult life. I have continually approached and broached cultural and personal barriers (since from I don't know when), not no much with pictures, but with words. If I had half a penny for every time I heard "you're/that's gross / disgusting" as result of something I've said, I'd be a multi-millionaire - just this past weekend, at the breakfast table (with Maggie, her 2 girlfriends, and 1 of their boyfriends), when Maggie took my last sausage patty, put it in her mouth, took it back out and then offered to share it with me, I responded by cutting it in half, saying "Sure. I'll just pretend we're french kissing", and then I ate it.
The girls, to include the wife, responded with a chorus of "eewwww"s, "that's gross"s, and, I must add, lots of laughter. My breakfast-table gross-isms are of long standing and legendary proportions amongst Maggie and her posse. But, over the years, it's how we managed to broach and then talk about all manner of 'sensitive' topics. And, on hindsight, there were times when the gross-isms were instigated or accompanied by pictures - just not mine (that I can remember).
All of that said, my decay series is now my Decay and Disgust series.
gravitas et nugalis
Waiting to become Art • click to embiggenFeatured Comment: Frank Armstrong wrote: "What I can't figure out about this decaying stuff -- are you leaving it there with the intent of creating art, or are you just too damned lazy to clean your kitchen?"
my response: much to the wife's chagrin, there's a bunch of decay hanging around waiting to become Art. Although, I am operating under the threat of imminent disposal if I don't find a non-kitchen staging area.
The kitchen, itself, is usually quite spic 'n span.
decay
Reader Comments (3)
Mark,
In some future post would you mind putting together a quick, essential reading list for those of us wanting to learn more about Art and the theory of it, but who have not had much formal training in this area?
I do appreciate all of the books you reference and I attempt to follow them up as best I can.
Nice way to put it. Of course we knew that the use of the concept "disgusting" was a way to define what is acceptable. As always, it takes a sociologist/psychologist to give us "the painful elaboration of the obvious" - as one of my sociology professors once said.
What I can't figure out about this decaying stuff -- are you leaving it there with the intent of creating art, or are you just too damned lazy to clean your kitchen? And why is it that topics and actions deemed gross in public we can't wait to put to practice in private? No, NO, not that....I mean things like clearing your throat, and then expelling a great hocker from the open (hopefully) window of your vehicle only when no cars are approaching or following too close. It's not a worry the puttuie will splat against someone's windshield, but merely you don't want others to see you doing it. P'taker