the real me

To me, these pictures do a pretty good job of touching on the real me. I honestly did not even know that they existed until about half an hour ago, when I rediscovered them deeply tucked away in an insignificant file on my laptop. I most definitely got distracted as these pictures and others made me smile, laugh and remember the little girl I used to be.

On his blog, Greg had the following quote:

"When one is told to be good, to mind your manners, to not be so noisy, to be nice, and so on, one becomes a 'mature' adult. Something is gained and something is lost. In this process of socialization, making one 'proper' for the world, you start to put things in a bag that you drag behind you: your exuberance, some of your joy and spontaneity. You might spend the first 25 years of your life filling the bag. One spends the rest of one's life trying to get many of those things back out again;"

Reading that quote, I could not help think of myself. Whether it has been the stress of finals, the drain of the semester, or simply growing up, I feel like I have started to put parts of me 'in that bag that I drag behind me.' I suppose some of the most obvious are a care-free spirit and that overwhelming, emanating joy. When I look at these pictures I see delight and am reminded of the truth that God DELIGHTS in me. It seems so easy for me to forget, and as I forget that truth about me, my own delight slips into my bag. I mentioned above that one of the other things in my bag would be a care-free spirit. These past years have not been easy and I have slowly become more and more weighed down by worries and cares. Looking back at these pictures help me gain perspective by giving me a physical image that reflects the beauty of freedom and the truth of that freedom that Christ wants me to live in. While these pictures are pictures of the little girl I used to be, they remain pictures of the little girl I am today. I may look a little different, but inside I am still the same.

If I had to only pick one image, it would be the first one, but I couldn't not put the other one up too.... notice also how both pictures are set on beaches. Outside of what I was saying about freedom and delight, beaches are definitely an integral part of my true self =)

"Layers"

Below you will find the url of the movie my group made to go along with our mask project. The movie is called "Layers" and cannot be found without this url. Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sdYkuTTYZtE

true gold fears no fire

landscape- or landscaping?

In thinking about landscapes in the 21st century, my mind kept wandering back to how the world is becoming increasingly developed with more and more cities and seemingly ceaseless construction of new and better buildings. With this in mind, it seems that we have stopped to work around nature and rather made nature work around us. Instead of conforming to nature, we have made nature conform to us. In the construction of a college campus, the layout of a city, or the placement of private houses, the buildings come first and then trees, bushes, flowers, and grass are placed strategically around them. It is interesting that this process is called "landscaping." In the 21st century, we have turned the word "landscape" from a noun into a verb, something we make, rather than something that is. Granted there is beautiful nature in this earth that remains untouched by humans, but on the whole this switch from landscape to landscaping is defining the 21st century.

In contrasting landscapes with earthworks a landscape is generally seen as natural and not manipulated, whereas an earthwork is by nature unnatural to a degree because something within nature has been manipulated. My landscape picture differs from our earthwork project because I used nature to manipulate a cityscape rather than bringing parts of civilization into nature or simply manipulate things within nature. Also, by nature of its name, a landscape typically includes both some sort of land or nature and some sort of sky. An earthwork, by contrast, does not need to include the sky.

Real? Ideal?

What is natural?

Given the assignment to take an image of God, this is my image. I suppose I'll explore it a little more, but first I'll take a look at the two previous images of God that I posted: Caravaggio's Doubting Thomas, and Sally Mann's untitled image. In Caravaggio's image, God is portrayed in a very concrete way, through the humanity of Jesus. Although the clothes and people look normal enough, the people appear to be Caucasian, and the clothes suddenly strike me as cleanly pressed and fresh. In this subtle way, perhaps, there is a hint at the staged nature of it all. However, it clearly portrays a scene from the gospels after Jesus' resurrection. In this way, it helps us envision what it could have been like to actually touch Jesus again. The manner in which Thomas is touching Jesus is definitely thought provoking... leading us to consider Christ's humanity and God in a new way or more deeply.

In Sally Mann's image, by contrast, I see an abstract image of God. This can help in considering the overall nature of God, or even a specific aspect of his divine nature, because he is Spirit- by nature not limited by physical things. By being abstract there is a freedom in presenting God's nature, which is beyond definition or the concrete. Because we identify with kids, we follow their gaze and look with them at the fire, reflecting then what that could be telling us about God. The black and white nature of the photograph also focuses the picture, and creates a muted intensity that would not have otherwise existed (also interesting when thinking about how that reflects God).

In light of those two images, I find my image to more clearly resemble that of Sally Mann's because of it's abstract nature. Since it doesn't have historical background to tie it to the time of Jesus or even an embodied story, I think the meaning behind the image is much less readily apparent and not as clear over all. That in itself has it's pro's and con's as it can expand to mean several different things, or simply confuse viewers and not convey meaning at all. It is similar to Sally Mann's also in the the lack of vibrant color. I find this to be a great asset, however, making it more riveting and compelling. Although it reflects no human face, I find it similar to Caravaggio's image in that it can be interpreted to touch on Jesus' humanity, limited-ness. Also I find that the lack of action stops me and makes me ponder. I like that.

Do let me know your thoughts--how you see this as an image of God, or don't. What feelings it evokes or questions it creates. I'd be happy to hear them.