Saturday, December 6, 2008

Coming together

December 4th, 2008 posting showed only a picture.
No text.

There might have been loyal and fervent blog readers who may have been wondering what that was about.
And that was what it was about.
To make people ask themselves questions that have no answers.

The image shows two children.


It is not exactly clear where that picture is taken.
Who are those children?
Where are they?
What are they doing?
Why is the girl wearing these large flip-flops?
And most of all: what is happening behind that tree?

Pictures that give all the answers are boring.
They don’t make people look at it for a very long time.
There is nothing puzzling as the image is not mystifying.
Those are the documentary pictures.
A portrait of Uncle John.
The new car.
The wedding of Trudy and Bob.

Images good to stir emotions but only with the people concerned and related.
There is not an artistic or historical value.

This is different for images that are poli-interpretable.
This means that an explanation of what is being seen in the image is a most personal thing.
It can be this, it can be that: decided by who is seeing the image.

These are the images that are bought and put on the wall.
Because each day the interpretation of the image can be different.
Depending of the state the viewer is in.

For example, one could say that the two kids behind the tree are involved at looking at something found by the boy.
Or that they have a conversation about their parents.
Or that they are trying to move that tree.

The explanation for what is seen in the picture reflects the mind of the viewer.
The image is in fact only a challenge to have the mind and fantasy of the viewer come into action.

To make these poli-interpretable images is the greatest fun for an artistic photographer.
Hunting for situations that are absurd, surrealistic, unexplainable, weird, strange and crazy.
It allows letting a part of the artist flourish for which in common society is hardly any place.
Except in the asylum.

But it is also a gesture of the artist.
A service to the viewers to get involved and share the image.
An indirect way of coming together.
That is what is happening behind that tree.


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