June 12, 2006
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It’s 7am and I can’t lie in bed any longer, fighting against this heat that has my skin feeling two sizes two small. A rumble of thunder just swept the length of the sky like a tidal wave and the birds gossip loudly. I ache all over.
And now, the rain. I just had to run outside in bare feet to rescue the (now wet again) washing I forgot had been left out. My feet are black with mud. I guess it must have been raining all night and I didn’t hear it.
Spider web spider web. I’m not quite sure what’s going on here. I wonder if the spider was on caffeine or something because this is just a mess. A big mess. Seriously. Nil points. You’re rubbish mr/mrs spider, you really are. You’re not fit to call yourself arachnid.
I’ve been looking at photos by Andres Serrano, who sparked off much controversy 20 years ago with his Piss Christ. He often uses semen, piss and blood in his work. And many of his photos feature religion sex death. He has a series of pics taken in the morgue and it is these that have been fascinating me recently, after a friend sent me a pic titled – Rat Poison Suicide III. It set off a questioning beast in my brain that had lain dormant for a while. ie. - when does object become subject?
You have a still life, you have found art. The object might be a bowl of fruit, a bicycle, a bunch of flowers, a graffiti scrawl… And then you have a portrait, and the person is subject. But what of the dead? If you’re taking a photo of the body of a person ie. minus consciousness/conscience, does he or she become an object? If it were a photo of the corpse of John Lennon, would it be subject, because you knew his name? Or perhaps because you saw him alive, on TV, at a concert? Does a faceless, nameless cadaver on a table become an object through the lens of a camera, even as they remain subject to the people who grieve over them?
I’m all askew. Too tired. Kidcrochet, I have a letter ready for posting. Cerridwens Cauldron, I have a letter for you too, but at the moment it’s still in my head. Spyros, dammit, I’ll write you another one. Sxuldv8 – I replied to your email but you probably didn’t get it. Jacobseye, I think I owe you a letter. Is that everyone? To the rest of you, adieu, adieu, adieu.
Comments (24)
That’s a good question… I think perhaps we’ll always view them as subject regardless of what might be technically true, because we identify too much with the idea of a person, or what was once a living person – even if we didn’t know them.
There’s a beautiful poem by Andrew Hudgins on “Piss Christ” by Serrano. I might have posted it long ago, not sure. You can find it here: http://www.slate.com/id/74144/
I think it has to be the context. If you are recording the passing of the person, they would be subject, but if you are noting the discoloration of the throat where the fingers squeezed, you have object. The photographer makes a decision and everybody who looks at it makes it again. A lot like porn in that sense.
that arachnid is old and blind. the sort you normally get in attics. shame!
aurevoir, my dear.
I feel old and tired, worn with worry and wear. But for some reason, all this, it’s rather uplifting. Spidey widey, eh.
That’s some good writin’ -
i’m in the middle of “stiff” by mary roach and just finished the chapter on corpes studies of crucifixion and religious torture. i’d have to say cadaveric photography would be of an object. ask me again when my dad passes and his corpse goes to the university for plastic surgeons, ballistic specialists, and students to practice on him and i’ll probably feel differently. i personally cultivate the knowingness that “i am not this body.” i’m an ecstatic yoga practitioner and bhakta. i don’t usually make sense to many people, but i’m growing my joy in the way i know how. i think that capturing the essence of a person in pictures or words is not possible because life is energy, not the congealed matter that clings to it. i’m also reading osho right now…. his commmentary on the vigyan bhairav tantra sutras…. the book of secrets. life is energy. the energy of loving. as buddhists say “peace is the way” a tantrika would say “love is the way.”
namastute…. johanna / janet
maybe everything that was once a subject remains a subject, even after death.
you are so lovely. I love the way your words flow.
don’t forget to check protected.
Is the letter rattling around in your head, or just floating and flitting about…?
i’m a spider.
The spiders web look pretty magnificent to me. like a miniature circus tent. I bet it’s pretty difficult to guide silk coming from your ass. then again, it is instinct for a spider.
It is the composition that determines the subject of a peice. Guides in the painting or photograph tell your eye to look in a certian direction, usually pointing to an object/focal point. The guides might be lines, colors, hidden arrows, anything. If it’s a good piece of art then you will know what the subject is automatically.
oh…that is how wolf spiders make thier webs..a sticky trampoline that only the largest or tiniest escape…the hole at the end is where they lie in wait.
A cadaver would be an object in my opinion…any emotions come from the viewer of the photograph.
yes, contemplating :>)
ryc: I’m glad you “got” it. It was supposed to sound dreamy and unreal. It didn’t feel…right? to mention the bad things of my youth. I wanted to capitalize on the good.
danke.
IRC: Yeah, but the bored librarian club would be much more sarcastic yet keenly decorated… -
IRC: Cardigans, its summertime! I’m wearing a t-shirt with a dogs butt crack emblazoned on the back. shorts and flip flops. What?, We have a casual dress code… -
I’m working on the submission witch. Hmm…cast a good luck spell for me?
Like rotting flowers indeed.
People always have stories. I like to go to graveyards and say hello to the spirits there, because I always wonder if a few of them have been forgotten. I always want to remember them, even if I don’t know them.
So far, I’ve read two books where minor characters photograph dead people. If I read a third of the same nature, I’m going to start worrying… hm.
On another note… I’ve always wondered this. Where does that line you have as your page heading come from? Or did you make it up?
you bring up wonderful points.
So i realized i couldnt comment you after i got rid of my xanga and finally got over my lazyness to make one again.
I really gotta stop getting rid of these things. I’ll just make another one
ItachiD, A piece of paper.
xD
With a skilled ventriloquist, the cadaver retains its personality.
ryc: did you not see the belly and back chubs?? come on, now.
thank you, though.
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