Here is my video triptych.
This series of videos start w/ pretty direct responses to dramatic elements in the environment- a late March snow and a hike in Canyonlands.The first expresses despair at the snow and cold we had during spring break and personifies nature. In looking at it now, I'm struck by the lack of color compared to the second. Here I feel some of Jack London's naturalism. The second is a response to that despair, a trip to Utah's desert warmth and drama where I again feel what Romantics called 'the sublime'. I don't know how long that awe would last if I lived there. But when I lived on the beach in Morocco, the pounding surf amazed me the entire time. Some elements of the natural world have that power. The first snow of the year often does as well, but the last snow feels quite different. Finally, the third video challenges the emotions of the first two landing on a less emotional and probably more 'real' truth. My greatest impact on and therefore relationship with nature is my carbon footprint based on the daily commute. Commuting and communing (with nature) are nearly identical words with opposite meanings. Living 24 miles away from work and consuming the fuel, the vehicles and the freeway system puts me pretty squarely in Ishmael's prison industry of 'consuming the world.' Commuting and prison do seem pretty synonymous.
What has evolved in these videos is a focus on a fragmentary gesture like walking or driving as a representation of my role in nature. The first version of the first video showed my feet walking in the new snow. I prefer the text of this one, but the opening of the other one connects the three better. Overall, I'm more pleased with this assignment now having wrestled with it some. I'm really looking forward to seeing how you handle it.
This series of videos start w/ pretty direct responses to dramatic elements in the environment- a late March snow and a hike in Canyonlands.The first expresses despair at the snow and cold we had during spring break and personifies nature. In looking at it now, I'm struck by the lack of color compared to the second. Here I feel some of Jack London's naturalism. The second is a response to that despair, a trip to Utah's desert warmth and drama where I again feel what Romantics called 'the sublime'. I don't know how long that awe would last if I lived there. But when I lived on the beach in Morocco, the pounding surf amazed me the entire time. Some elements of the natural world have that power. The first snow of the year often does as well, but the last snow feels quite different. Finally, the third video challenges the emotions of the first two landing on a less emotional and probably more 'real' truth. My greatest impact on and therefore relationship with nature is my carbon footprint based on the daily commute. Commuting and communing (with nature) are nearly identical words with opposite meanings. Living 24 miles away from work and consuming the fuel, the vehicles and the freeway system puts me pretty squarely in Ishmael's prison industry of 'consuming the world.' Commuting and prison do seem pretty synonymous.
What has evolved in these videos is a focus on a fragmentary gesture like walking or driving as a representation of my role in nature. The first version of the first video showed my feet walking in the new snow. I prefer the text of this one, but the opening of the other one connects the three better. Overall, I'm more pleased with this assignment now having wrestled with it some. I'm really looking forward to seeing how you handle it.
No comments:
Post a Comment