March 01, 2008

More On Beauty...


Seems like my last three posts will tie together under the heading of 'finding beauty in loss'... or 'death' or 'deconstruction'... didn't plan it this way but seems to fit.

A comment left by Harold Hollingsworth following my Chris Jordon post pointed to Ed Burtynsky, another eye for beauty in a world of concern. Incredibly beautiful photos that focus awareness on the results of the choices we make... the world we don't see from the Interstates and airways. It's not all 'gotcha' and doesn't all point to the sinner within, some of the images are just going about the business of dealing with the masses... it's near impossible to maintain evolutionary growth and leave the earth untouched. But photos such as these do give pause to consider what is necessary and how do we deal with the aftermath of our uses, choices and needs. Burtynsky's site is large and worth taking time to explore.

Jordon's manipulated photos help us see much the same thing but with a different tack... how many Barbie dolls does it take to create a starburst pattern which are "...equal to the number of elective breast augmentation surgeries performed monthly in the US in 2006." Photo analogy goes way beyond the oft used mental pictures like 'pennies stacked to the moon'.

Two very different approaches saying much the same thing about beauty found in areas of concern. And in between these two blog posts, a robin lies dead in the rain, small and insignificant, yet another glimpse of beauty most often missed.

3 comments:

harold hollingsworth said...

Well said KJ, and glad to have stirred the pot a bit, love them both!

Karen Jacobs said...

Thanks for the pointer, Harold...

Anonymous said...

Hi Karen...
While I read your blog religiously I've only posted a response once before - just HAD to comment on this particular one.

I discovered Ed Burtynsky about 3 years ago at just about the time he had won the TED prize. I haven't visited his site in awhile but your post was a great reminder to do just that right away.

The photos on the site are beautiful, but seeing them in real life is terribly impressive. At our city gallery we have about 15 of the photos donated to the gallery by Burtynsky - the major portion of them are from the 'Shipbreaking' series.

So striking, so poignant. As was your photo of the robin. Thanks so much for this.