“What we call the beginning is often the end. And to make an end is to make a beginning. The end is where we start from.”
― T.S. Eliot

here are two sides of seeing – how i began and how i’m ending – or where i’m beginning from again; the end of a new beginning….and it is part one of two. the second group will be up later this week.

i’m not sure how to express my thoughts on the year with this group. it’s been so rewarding in many ways. so many different points of view. ways that have helped me see things i would not have seen before. it’s shown me that all points of view are valid and valued. are needed even in a world that is so saturated. getting to know everyone in ways i would not have been able to without the images. and from a personal view, to have committed and completed each week is without question a milestone. i’ve never tried anything like this before so doing it and coming out the other side is encouraging. and yes, i’m looking forward to another year with many of the same faces along with new ones. there is such growth and refinement in doing all this and friendship and support and love.

and so i invite you to see the work of everyone starting with the magic of Heather Robinson in Durham, NC.

image & text. there was no way to ignore them. for everywhere you looked, there they were. showing up in ironic and comical ways when you considered the people they framed. i paid a lot of attention to this; could have made an entire study of just one or two areas and in some cases i did as the message was just too tempting.

while the use of image & text in modern 20th c art spans dada, fluxus, pop, conceptual (side note the links are quick surface overviews – not deep dives into each); my interest is in how photographers have used them. and tho there’s no real clear list to link to, walker evans is one who is commonly referenced.

in trying to locate a paper or outline or thesis of any sort on the subject i came across a 2004 exhibition from the museum of contemporary art -and the following excerpt is a simple outline of thoughts that summarize things perfectly for me and what i was thinking about.

Placing words and images in the same perceptual space is not as easy as it looks. The artist has to keep track of four phenomena, not just the apparent two. First, the words have accepted, coded meanings and contexts that affect what we see in the adjacent images. Second, the words invoke mental images that might also conflict with what we see. Third, images have meanings and contexts that may alter our engagement with the adjacent words. Fourth, images can call up words in the mind of the viewer. The coordination of image/word/word/image is not easy, but the more difficult it is, the more possibilities present themselves for qualifying or clarifying the larger world.

an interesting statement….a unique bit of art and a really nice person who just recently moved back to salem. one for a few of my cycling friends who may well share the sentiment!

i love this photo…was one i saw & kind of waited for – i say kind of as i’m finding capturing a moment you have no control over is hard. it’s damn hard. to catch everything that’s lined up so perfectly requires a fast response and an intuitiveness with the technicalities. so this one – um…makes me sing as it summarizes a lot of sentiments i’m hard pressed to sort out with words.

On September 11, 2001 I lived on the west coast and got a call from somewhat hysterical family early that morning. They were crying and frightened. Their minds were racing. I remember being on the phone with my sister in law  – a flight attendant who knew New York by the towers – watching the television as they fell. I’ll never forget her sigh, her cry, her sentiment of that moment. Like most, I walked around in semi state of disbelief that week, but in hindsight, the effect was different than what was felt on the East Coast – the unthinkable was unfolding before eyes with minds that couldn’t process let alone grasp what had taken place. So here we are ten years later. I’m in a different city, and though I can no longer talk to my sister in law, I have a feeling she’d look upon things as they are now with mixed feelings – while you can’t forget, you must move forward out of honor and respect. So while these photographs were not taken anywhere near the site, they are New York – a fast moving living breathing city full of life and animation – one that absorbs and transforms.