Pieces

07Nov06

By Ann C 

“Perhaps true, total photography, he thought, is a pile of fragments of private images, against the creased background of massacres and coronations.”  “Adventures of a Photographer”  (Calvino 186)     

Photo by Katie, Flickr username: At~A~Glance

 

            This picture, Incomplete, relates to several topics that we discussed in class and saw in the readings.  Its caption reminded me of the captions in Memento. Also the photographer’s attempts to show absence of someone through photography reminded me of “Adventures”.  In comparison, the fragmented composition of the photo conveys the ideas of the above quote because the picture is a collage of small parts of one sculpture.  I first noticed the picture’s heading, Incomplete, and its caption about Katie missing her boyfriend.  The caption states her objective in taking the picture.  Without the caption, I would not have appreciated Incomplete as much.  Through her picture, she shows the Love sculpture as something other than a cultural sign that is replicated in Philadelphia gift shops.  Instead the picture representes the absense of her boyfriend, the one with whom she shared Philadelphia and for whom she cared.  Knowing this, the picture represents a void.  Whereas, on Philadelphia tourism commercials Love represents richness of the city.  When I saw this picture together with its caption, I was able to understand the emptiness depicted in “Adventures” which had previously seemed like an overly dramatic interpretation of Calvino.  Also in Memento the snapshots were dependent on thier captions as this photograph was explained through its captions. 

            Another reason I chose Incomplete is because it is fragmented.  It is not one shot of Love.  Rather it is a messy puzzle of multiple Polariod-styled shots.  Calvino describes the “fragments of private images” as “massacres and coronations”. The collection and possession of moments in turn kills them, like the way that a wild animal has to be caged or killed in order to posses it, yet it has a life of its own.  Incomplete does not affect my personal memories of Love but it does portray the feelings of emptiness that the photographer wanted to convey. 

Filed under: Assignments, Italo Calvino, Memory, Photography, Roland Barthes, Student Posts, Temple, Uncategorized   |  Leave a Comment