The Gallery: Conceptual 5
|
|
Beth E Peterson
Text and Artwork:
|
Now & Then Photograph Past, Present, Future. Now...and Then. The past brings us the weathered and solid knowledge of ourselves, the people we have met, the world around us. It is as we move through time, through our history, that we define ourselves through our actions, our thoughts, our beliefs, our attitudes. As we move through Today, we are hopefully looking towards the Future and determining how best to refine our preferred way of being. Even with the best of intentions, however, we must be aware of how much our visions of the Future may overlap and confuse our knowledge of the Past. The Future beckons us with possibilities... images of the mind...These can entice us to the point where we forget the lessons learned in our Past. It is a balance; learning to see both the Past and its lessons, and the Future and its possibilities. 
Edges Photograph Edges of earth and sea...Edges of land and sky. Edges are special places, where journeys begin and possibilities spring forth. Edges are places of motion, where wind sweeps the tree branches and their leaves, where surf moves incessantly against the solidity of the rock below and before it. Edges are a place of communion. I met you on the edges of my selfhood and the edges of your self as well. Here, on the edge, we can meet each other and interchange ideas, concepts, concerns and emotions. Edges are boundaries. For just as the water is not the rock, even where they meet, so to I am never you, and you are never me. As such, edges insure us a place of safety.
Take away the edges, and nothing but chaos is certain to ensue.
The Book of Ashes Modified Photograph It spoke of a party but the party had gone away. It spoke of light and laughter and fun but when the light died low the laughter was done. All that was left were the ashes and soot a tale to be read, a bitter black book. What tales do you leave in the sand, on your trail? What tale do you tell us? What tale will you weave, for you weave without fail. 
Boneyard Photograph I've called this photo, and the area it references, the boneyard due to the large number of bleached and water washed logs...former tree trunks...which are pushed up here by storms on the lake. It can be a somber place...a place in which one becomes aware of the passing of life from these shores. It is also a calm place, soothing in the smooth textures of the driftwood, the gentle movement and sound of the waves as they come into shore. Even though these bones of trees tell of the end of one part of life, to me they attest that this life does not need to be forgotten. They are a testament to and of the life those trees lived as they grew in strength and stature.
And who is to say, among those of us who remain here, that their lives are not continued...
If nothing more, than in the memories of those who have seen. In the lives of those being
nourished by their passing, and those who are nourished indirectly.
|