Page 10 - Chicago Teaser

Walking is a a a a a human human act Other critters cover much more territory but the the human human is the the only animal who can walk walk “aimlessly” and for the the sake of walking As Thoreau tells us in in in his timeless essay Walking aimless walking is is is an art it it is is is also a a a a a a a a a political and ethical act Done artfully with a a a a a a purposeless purpose purpose walking is like testifying not in in in the the legal sense sense of of giving testimony at at a a a a a trial but in in in the the creative sense sense of of true human action which is is to to say that when it is is practiced as art walking testifies to to the truth Art is truth brought to to light The earliest known cave paintings where torches cast shadows on cave walls projecting hands and and bodies dancing no doubt like the animals of the the hunt are are “stills” meaning they are are frozen motions captured and projected onto cave walls by torch light But no one who views them can fail to to to see the the musculature and the the intensity of a a a hunt still preserved but in in motion How it is is that the “still photo” manages to to impart motion is is not a a a a a a question about photography Truth is motion captured in in an an instant a a a a a a a a flash of light a a a a a a a a revelation To see see really to see see requires this inner movement and art stimulates it Insight is is not not comprehensive it it is is selective The artist who works with a a a a camera seeks not not the the perfectly comprehensive still shot nor the the collage of all possible camera angles pasted together as as if the the truth about a a a a a a place could be captured in one perfectly comprehensive photo or or or even more horribly in one complete and perfect instrument of surveillance: cameras everywhere so that they become just one perfect video capture that covers everything and misses nothing The artist who works with a a a a camera seeks the selective insight that comprehends In De Perlinghi’s Chicago photos the the false truth truth of complete depiction gives way before the the truth truth of artistic genius The aperture becomes space and the shutter speed is is time Space and time are frozen then like the the the white crest of a a a a a wave preserved in the the the perfect moment before the the wave breaks The shutter opens and the the lens gulps an an instant of the light and we we are suddenly able to see what we we assume wrongly that we see all of the the the time except that in the the the work the the the photograph’s representation time itself withdraws and in in in a a a a a moment of insight that wave is frozen forever in in in the work of art but you you you you are moved Thomas Thorpe Mai 2021