CHAPTER 34
The Angel and the Wasp
Featuring work by Jennifer Edwards
WHILE WE HAVE TOUCHED on the composition of the elements, what is included in the ingredients, even how they might be stirred, we have not really explored the order in which the ingredients are added.
In pictorial language, this is simply the order in which images are presented: the sequence, the beginning, the middle, and the end, if we are inclined to look at them linearly.
This can consist of a portfolio, usually twelve to twenty-four images; the current measure of proof of a sustained inquiry, the visual essay for lack of a better word, something that tells the story. Storytelling, as we think of it in “picture books.”
This is important, because a sustained inquiry and the subsequent ordering of the sequence is the stuff of monographs, exhibitions, magazine publications, and the somewhat elusive idea of rigor. Since we are living in the paradigm of this perception, it merits attention.
I thank Edwards for sending me a number of images to play with. She did not send them in any order, or as a sequenced sustained inquiry. Instead, I got to choose as I pleased from several bodies of work—a menu consisting of unrelated courses. This, after all, is to indulge the magic of curating. She sent me eleven images, in all, from the years she was my student.
I also want to acknowledge that since I chose to write about more than the obviously connected images she sent, she surrendered her images to this fate. I am intent to put together a narrative that will render the trove of individual images subservient to the meaning of the whole, based on something which grabbed me while clicking through the “buffet.” Before we get to that, let me also mention that the stylistic consistency made wandering between distinct bodies of work so inviting.
This is the second level of subtext. If you remember the prologue, now we are playing chess on a three-dimensional, instead of a two-dimensional, board.
What Are We Looking at?
We already know how far the subtext of one or several closely related images can lead, and arguably each of Edwards' images deserves this individual attention. I trust, that at this point in the book, you can determine if and how you connect with them individually.
I now want us to take the additional step of putting them together as a sequence. As such, we will consider them not once, but reordered four times to examine the varied experiences and responses this can yield.
For argument's sake, let's call her untitled images One, Two, and Three. Version 1 is the order that immediately worked for me most deeply (Figures 34.1, 34.2 and 34.3).
How Can the Image Be Interpreted, Version 1?
FIGURE 34.1 One. © Jennifer Edwards
Image order One, Two, and Three: the angel, the insect, and the thousand-mile stare.
The ethereal nature of the angel photograph, with its lack of focus stands visually apart from the in-focus images in a substantive way. Why? Because the winged beings are next to each other and the difference in visual treatment between them and the third image is pronounced. The angel and the wasp are immediate neighbors, not separated by the stare but instead punctuated by it.
This opens up a direct discourse between the angel and the wasp—or, between religion and nature. We have already visited this theme. But it did not so obviously lead to an acronym. Wasp plus a sprinkle of angelic dust inevitably leads us to WASP, White Anglo-Saxon Protestant. Image number Three may well ask the question, “Am I that?”
Okay, so what happens when we change the order?
How Can the Image Be Interpreted, Version 2?
Image order Two, One, and Three: the insect, the angel, and the thousand-mile stare.
The angelic quality in the wasp: this can be considered as such because the angel is trapped by the two in-focus images, immediately following the wasp. Now we are back to empathy—the dying insect. We may be reminded of the Jains, who brush the ground so as to not crush another living being, the Indian sect that sweeps a path of non-destruction. At their end, they offer themselves in a sky burial to carrion eating birds. So closes the circle of sustenance among those that lived and those that are still living.
FIGURE 34.2 Two. © Jennifer Edwards
The thousand-mile stare now is a meditation on the worth of a life, any life. The insignificant insect and icon of another religion are suddenly conflated into an unseen bird. A raptor, a relative of something so much more ancient than us, it is a dinosaur that will take the meat from a corpse. An arguable salute to the meteor that wiped them out and which we are not likely in need of, for we are doing this job for ourselves. I don't know enough about the Jain religion and assume that if I did, there would be some Jain humor in that.
How Can the Image Be Interpreted, Version 3?
Image order Three, One, and Two: the thousand-mile stare, the angel, and insect.
Again, the in and out-of focus experience is divided. We start with contemplation rather than conclusion. We now realize the two are not only interchangeable but, in fact, we may have confused them from the start. Does contemplation result in conclusion or is it the other way around? Does conclusion result in contemplation?
The first seems to linearly make more sense, yet it is our conclusions and associated decisions that often lead to genuine contemplation, particularly if we determine that we have made a mistake. I don't mean Monday morning quarterbacking or all that rearview mirror stuff. Rather, what if the wasp is the angel? The inventor of the polio vaccine, Jonas Salk, has often been referenced for saying, “If all insects on Earth disappeared, within fifty years all life on Earth would end. If all human beings disappeared from the Earth, within fifty years all forms of life would flourish.” Who is the angel now?
Edwards, I now suspect, threw us all a challenge. “Do what you want.” What a gift and what a burden. To me it also represents artistic courage.
FIGURE 34.3 Three. © Jennifer Edwards
Conclusion
This is the gift all artists share—with themselves, each other, and anyone and everyone who cares to look. As previously mentioned in “art-speak,” the reciprocal relationship between the artist and her or his work, the reciprocal relationship between the artist and viewer, increases across centuries, millennia, and ever growing populations. We are again visited by time.
We must remember to play, as all animals do. This is the gift of everyone who so generously agreed to contribute to this book. Edwards added the additional element of eloquent delivery, “Do what you want.” Don't forget that.
Only after writing this chapter am I struck by how long it's been since I've heard this sentiment, “Do what you want” expressed with positive intentions. When exactly did “Do what you want” become so charged with disapproval?
We have examined three out of six possible combinations.
You may want to consider: image order One, Three, and Two—the insect, the thousand-mile stare, and the angel; image order Two, Three, and One—the thousand-mile stare, the insect, and the angel.
How Can the Image Be Interpreted, Version 4?
Image order Three, Two, and One: the insect, the thousand-mile stare, and the angel.
At some point we have to acknowledge that the wasp, to most not an endearing creature, is nevertheless trapped. What if the woman is contemplating the insect, its fate? What if she has control over so little that suddenly this realization becomes important? The angel image may ultimately lead the way though last in the sequence. Something may spurn the unforgiving stair into lifting the screen and let the confused insect go free.
Assignments You May Want to Challenge Yourself With
•Do what you want
•Image sequencing, re-sequencing
•Try to discover a story instead of creating one
•Explore acronyms visually