Power 2

Power

I seem to have a fascination with power lines and towers.  It may have to do with my conflict with technology.  Technology has helped us out in so many ways and made life so much easier, but it has also done damage to our beautiful world.  I hope we can someday come to a happy balance between nature and technology...

Tree of Life

Nature is always an inspiration of mine.  I love being outdoors, hiking and enjoying plants and animals.  This image was taken at Crowders mountain last week.  I loved the feel of the light coming through the leaves of this tree as I walked along the path - it felt very spiritual to me.

Dreams

Forest of Forks

Project #4, “Dreams” is a surreal photo project, inspired by artist Sarolta Ban, a photo manipulator from Budapest.  (See previous post about her.)  I have taken everyday images and placed them in unordinary situations, playing with color and size. The end result are images that could only be found in my imagination...

I'd like to expand on this for my final portfolio, adding more images that tell stories for the viewer to interpret...

Fairytale

Carol Golemboski's "Life of the Party"

Carol Golemboski's Life of the Party, 2003

Both recent photo exhibitions in UNCC’s art galleries were very interesting. However, I was drawn more towards Carol Golemboski’s ‘Psychometry’ showing. I was especially drawn to her piece “Life of the Party,” a toned silver-gelatin print created in 2003.

This black and white piece shows an image of what appears to be an old board game. There is a donkey (jackass) in the center of the board on a spinner. His feet point to numbers that are circling the board. At the top of the image is the message “The Player Must Perform Whatever Stunt is Imposed Upon Her.” Written at the bottom is “Life of the Party.” The four corners of the board show illustrations of dares or stunts. I’m assuming that there is a stunt associated with every number. The background behind the board is very dark with a repetition of the white stars found in the circle of the board. The phrase “Ha Ha!” is also repeated throughout the background in various fonts and sizes.

The donkey (or jackass) has long been a symbol of ignorance. In the sense of the game I think it represents having “stupid” fun. You may jokingly call a friend a jackass for doing something stupid or playing a joke on you. The game itself calls upon players to do stupid stunts. The old-fashioned look of the game coupled with the stars and scratches also implies a sense of time.

To me this image refers to life and how one may go through life trying to entertain and impress others. By making others laugh or submitting to peer pressure one can become more popular. But in reality one may just make him/herself look like a jackass. It could also imply the fact that you never know what acts or stunts you are going to be called upon to do in life – ones that could potentially make you look like a jackass.

After reading Golemboski’s bio and description of ‘Psychometry’ I believe this image has to do with the anxiety of the unknowable. According to Golemboski psychometry refers to the pseudo-science of "object reading," the purported psychic ability to divine the history of objects through physical contact. We do not know everyone’s past or the acts one may have done – we do not know what acts we ourselves will have to do in life. By looking at this object of the past, the board game, we can only infer that someone tried to have fun.