Words
A
picture that captures the essence of the human heart can be looked at for hours;
the same is with a picture one has a connection with. The photo can be
something simple, however it is so quintessential to the onlooker that they
stand captured in the essence of its simplicity. He can look at the photo over
and over again and never get bored or want to move on. The picture speaks to
him in a way that our words cannot. It is as if the picture is speaking in
tongues that only the onlooker can comprehend. It is a connection with art that
is so magnificent, almost like magic. In the art gallery I saw many pictures,
and it wasn’t the first place winners that caught my eye. In the gallery I was
captured by the simplest of photos; a girl standing at a window, pictures of
triangular monkey bars on a playground, and a picture of a shiny motorcycle.
These pictures where not metropolitan worthy and they did not make you ask life’s
deepest questions. They were however meaningful to me, and that placed a connection
between those photos and myself that is very unique. It might be a simple
captured moment, but in this moment as Napoleon Bonaparte said “A picture is
worth a thousand words”.
Rachel Hammond managed to grab my eye as I was going
through the gallery with her photo “Woman
in the Window”. With poise and grace a woman stands tall with her shoulders
back as she looks outside into what I perceive to be as an unknown. Poise is captured
in this photo along with an essence of beauty, in a pure form. When I laid eyes
on this picture I saw myself observing the world from my own window. I love to
look out and watch the world go by because it is so peaceful. Judging by the
quaint rustic window I would say that she is looking out at a hillside, where
green grass rolls off the hills and the sky is as blue as it gets. I feel a
newness about this photo; perhaps it is springtime, the flowers are blooming
the air is fresh everything is about to start over anew. However, as sweet as
this picture looks I also see a part of myself that I try very hard to
suppress. I see a touch of sadness. This lady wishes to break the glass and go
run in the fields and be as free as the birds that surround her. For some
reason, the window pane is blocking her freedom and she can’t break loose.
“To be a kid again”
not so much the picture but the title stopped me in my tracks on this
photo. The photo is a black and white portrait of a rusty set of monkey bars.
While looking at this photo I was taken back many years ago to the joy and
happiness I felt as a small child. I pictured my little self doing flips and
clinging on to dear life as my biggest troubles where if I would make it to the
next bar. The photograph was technically just a picture of bars on a pole on a
clear day, but the photo spoke to me. The photo not only gave me a feeling of
youthfulness and childlike joy. The photograph also triggered many memories in
my mind of the life that I used to live, when my troubles where small and my
smile was big, instead of the flip flopped order that it is now with life
happening all around me. This picture was very moving, although it didn’t say
much it brought back so many phenomenal childhood memories.
Having recently been involved in what could
have easily been a life altering motorcycle accident, the last picture that I
saw before I left the gallery is still buzzing around in my head; “A
Perfect day to Ride” by Jessica Norman. This photograph captures a cruiser
with sun shining on it and a clear beautiful day, simple right? Not to me, this
photograph now contains something darker, a danger that I have recently
encountered and do not wish to be near again. No way that this author knows the
trauma that I am going through she is probably a bike fiend also just trying to
capture a picture of her Sunday afternoon. The photo takes me back it brings
back the deadly CRUNCH of metal on metal and a deadly force that YANKED me off
the bike onto the cold midnight pavement. A million images surround my head as
I see the bike looking peaceful and glorious; however none of the thoughts that
swirl around in my head are peaceful or glorious in the slightest.
“A
picture is worth a thousand words” an overused quotation, however it is very
relatable in my opinion. As evident by the places that these pictures that I
saw took me I am very apt to agree with Mr. Bonaparte. These three photos
captured a moment in time and made it stand still, however it very much came
alive to me. Flashbacks, voices, watching myself in my own past became a part
of these pictures and it made everything surreal, just like I was living it
over and over again. It is a peculiarity what art can do to the mind, but it is
also so majestic. It takes you to places you know and places that you don’t, as
Twyla Tharp stated “Art is the only way to run away without leaving home”.
