This blog entry was inspired by the film Gattaca (1997), one of my favourite movies of all time. I'm sure I may have mentioned it before but recently it has got me thinking about a lot of things; the future, pushing past boundaries, being content, communication, promotion and a number of different things that may be contained within my own potential.
I've also watched another film recently, again one that I adore and have done for years. Wings of Desire (1987) a film most would think a complete opposite from Gattaca, but there is a lot of similarity between the two. Gattaca is a film about Vincent, his genetics are holding him back in a society that puts you in your place at the moment you are born. Doctors will look at your DNA and almost brand it to your life record. Subsequently this leads to Vincent wanting to push past the limitations of society, these rules and regulations about "Valids" and "In-valids" are holding him back from his true desire and ambition. He cannot be what he wants to be, he cannot realize his dream and the only way to achieve it is through going against everything that society has forced upon the human race. They have told him what his potential is, but not accounted for his human spirit to break past that boundary. It is a film I urge everybody to watch. A perfect film and a masterpiece.
The other film, Wings of Desire, is a story that circulates around an invisable angel who is overlooking the human race. This is his job and he has been bound to it. Eventually he falls in love with a mortal, a trapeze artist to be exact, and he finds himself behind the boundaries of his invisibility. He is trapped and wants to break through to the mortal world.
This is where the two films are similar, the two characters have been set these boundaries but they both show that true desire and the human/non-human heart can achieve much more than they are originally told they are supposed to achieve. An absolutely beautiful and motivating concept that is executed perfectly in both movies. I have loved both of these films for a long time but it is only now, in my relevant situation, that I see the similarities.
Once again, thank you for reading.
Dan.
I have only just started this project. It's an environmental portrait project about limitations of the audience's interpretation. I can't really tell you too much about it, because I have only just begun taking photographs and that is the way I work. I come up with a basic idea and then take the photographs. The pictures then evolve the concept and I get to a point where it all comes together. In basic terms, it is my own idea of how the individual interprets images. With providing minimal visual indicators of where this was taken and any other facts about the photograph, the audience will have to conjure up their own ideas. I will let you now that the aesthetics of the photographs will come from surrealist articles that I have read but that does not entirely explain the concept.
After more photographs are taken in this series, and people see the photos together, they will eventually start seeing patterns and start to understand my concept, much like what will be happening to me when I continue with it. So it finds it's foundations in basic hermaneutics, the onlooker does not have the capability to understand until he/she is given the tools to understand more. This is relevant to what I was explaining earlier about potential. The ability to understand is not in the audience's potential until I give them the tools to break past that boundary and understand it a bit more. The same goes for when an image is presented without text or caption. I could have just presented this image in a gallery with no text, but I decided to help you along a little bit. Playing with limitations on potential can be interesting, but can also be a little bit frustrating for the onlooker, so I will give you the freedom to look at my images and make your own mind up.
Song listening to right now: Conquest of Paradise - Vangelis
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