Richard Dare: Week 3 Analysis

In my response, I responded to Ariel Goldberg’s Straight Photography. However, I gave my own twist on the ekphrasis, choosing to not have spoken word in place of visual language atop photos and images that I didn't photograph myself, but instead found on Google. The piece is concerned about the nature of meaning and finding point in art, images and in thyself. Goldberg’s piece was similar to this in that regard, speaking directly to the reader and engaging in this meta conversation about the images she took as well as the other photographers who were taking the same pictures alongside her. While I did not speak of the semantics of using Google images or acknowledge the likelihood that each of the images that I used were most likely copied and pasted thousands of times over into other people’s works and assignments, I feel as if I accomplished a slightly unique piece of visual art.

It may be difficult to notice or fully get the effect from the .jpg arrangement of images- as they were actually formatted in powerpoint and meant to be experienced in full screen (though I could not format the .ppt into .wmv, the images will have to suffice)- I feel as if meaning will be assigned regardless. I have my own interpretation of what the arrangement means, just as any other person may or may not assign meaning as well. I chose endearing and introspective images as well as thought provoking ones in order for the individual to draw their own meanings from the images and words. Though some of the photos I wish I actually could have taken myself as some are misrepresentative of the true image I had in my head, I feel as if the point is made. Limited by time, I used what was available- thankfully, the internet is a large place, though it doesn’t cater to the most specific of images all the time. Yet, this constraint allowed me to be really creative with the images I searched for and often had me changing the words and altering the images themselves in order to provoke contemplative thought. At least that’s the hope.

I chose to attempt to make a connection with the images, myself, the words and the reader in a way that Goldberg did. I wanted the art to feel personal or completely out of this world depending on the viewer’s mindset and perspective. Though the images aren’t as complex as imagined them to be when I searched for them, I chose the images that did in fact make the most sense in terms of the artistic image and relatability that I envisioned in my mind. Through this process, I put to action the skills that I had remembered from my high school use of powerpoint as well as my narrative expertise of building suspense with colors, open space and emotional imagery. I am already aware of the strong ties that images and words build between one another and will only achieve greater artistically visual and vocal pieces in the future.