Outside

Photo‐Essay:ChrisShort

Insofarasourconsciousnessofthingsisconstructed,whichitistothegreatestextent,ourconsciousnessisshapedtoparticularends.Whatseemsnaturalisconstructed,ideological.Thewordswelearnasinfantsandinternalizethroughourlives,thetruthsandliestheyinflictonus.Thepictureswelearntaswegrewup,inrelationtowhichwejudgeourselvesandthebehaviourofothers.

Thesethingsplaceendlessconstraintuponus.Wearenotfree,exceptinthemostminorofdecisions.ShallIwearredorblue?Wekidourselvesintothinkingwe’reinmostpartfree,andonlysomeexplicitrulesconstrainus.Driveontheleft.Butourentirevaluesystemhasahistory,andthathistoryseekstocontain–itisthehistoryofmanipulation,ofsubjugation.Keepingusinourplace,playingourrolewithinthemachinewhoseultimategoalseemstobelittleotherthanthehappinessofapowerfulminority.Howdidweletthishappentous?We’llfindnoanswertothathere.

Rather,thisisanattempttomoveawayfromsuchconstraint.Thereisnoescape,atleastnotthatIcanthinkof.Wearetrappedinlanguage,ensnaredinimages.Buttherecomesapointatwhichwecandamagethoseconstraints–notdestroythem(thoughsomehavetried),butweakenthemsothatweseeorthinkbeyondthem.

Iseetheimageofadesolatelandorseaassomehowpromisingthepossibilityoffreedomfromsuchconstraint.Thepromiseisrarelyrealised.EspeciallywhereIlive.Thelandscapelookstobewildbutateveryturn,there’sabrutaltraceofman’spresence.Atelevisionmaststandsperpendiculartotheland;apowerstationcoolingtowerstandsproudabovetheshoreline;forestboundariescuttostraightlines;slagheapsanddecayingmachinery.Housesforworkersinrowuponrow.SouthWales.

Thelandhasalwaysalreadybeenframed.Untilwegettoocloseto,ortoofarfromit.

Oruntiltheimageitselfbeginstobreakdown.Iseethedisintegratedimageasanotherpromiseofthepossibilityofemancipation.Whenlanguagebreaks,constraintsweaken.Itcouldbethatcontextisdeniedandallthat’sleftisanisolatedutterance,voidofconvention.

Asthephotographicimagebecomesremotefromalikenesstothings,itentersarealmbeyondtherepresentable.It’sacontradictiontoourexpectations,ofcourse–weexpectatruelikenessfromphotography.It’swhatphotographyhadoverpainting.Butphotographyhasfollowedapathtakenbypaintingaround100yearsago.Photographybeginstoenterthisrealm,therealmthatthreatenstomovebeyondrepresentationorlikeness.Indoingso,itbeginstobecomeuncertain,betweenrepresentationandnon‐representation,andattimestransgressesthisaltogether.Nolongerappearingtobealikenessofthings–itis,infact,preciselythat–itmovesustowardadifferentsetofexperiences.Myworkbeginstoexplorewhatthoseexperiencesmightbe,andhowwemightbegintomakesenseofthemasweheadthroughtheuncertain,towardthesublime.

Outside©ChrisShort,2011.Allrightsremainwiththeauthor.Nopartofthisessaycanbereproducedwithoutwrittenpermissionoftheauthor.