creative forces

Blog# 50…October 2015

A picture is worth - well you know that one - and like most clichés, it’s true.  A recent cover of New York  magazine showing 35 women who’d been abused by a public figure called attention to the sense of entitlement  of some celebrities.  The iconic photo of the young Viet Namese  girl running in terror toward the camera brought that senseless war into personal focus.  Recently the body of the young Syrian boy washed up on the beach entered our election campaign and opened our hearts suddenly to the migrant crisis.

Blog 26, two years ago, featured the Ryerson Image Gallery, worth a visit if you haven’t been there. The exhibits are mostly news footage, raw and gritty, bringing us up against the world of  violence and injustice.  The current shows feature  Weegee, the American photographer whose dramatic and often lurid views of New York crimes and news events set the standard  for tabloid journalism.  Jorge Lozano’s complex portraits let us enter  the realities of life in an area in Colombia affected with chronic violence.

There’s much despair in the world and although it’s important to confront it and acknowledge its presence, it’s also important (in order to keep from totally submerging in hopelessness) to let the beauty in. Seek it out in fact.  There's lots around us - these days it’s the vivid leaves left on the trees and waiting for me to sweep them from my steps, And the same cameras that record the horrors of war and natural (and not so natural)disasters) also capture a world of wonderful and comforting images to lift our spirits.

                                                                                                     

I was in Nice recently (I know, lucky me) and saw the catalogue for a show titled Riviera  featuring photographer Jacques Henri Lartigue.which had recently been at a small gallery in Finland,   The show consisted of  albums of photos he called Saving Happiness, recording his fascination with women, nature and beauty.In the 30’s he was often recruited to scout locations and new starlets for the films of the era.  This beautiful stony beach on the Mediterranean is just as lovely as it was then,even though it's now usually crowded with people.

                                                                                                             
So, make sure you counter what you see on the evening news with a dose of trees or rivers, kittens or butterflies