A simple kitchen utensil as metaphor…
• Note: I would like to welcome David Duplessie, a fellow photographer/writer, to “Notes…” Thanks, David!
In this time I am playing with some older images some of you may have seen. This one, a simple kitchen utensil turned into a black and white, showing a rather intense spiral (pictured). I chose this image over several others I’ve been working on as it is more relevant to me as it shows a part of the whole. It also demonstrates the spiral we are in today.
In our current life circumstances many of us are spiraling. We are in turmoil as a people. How did we get here go the lyrics. Well, how did we get here?
The two most recent issues upon us, Covid-19 and the killing of George Floyd are telling in our history as a group. The pandemic hit large cities hard and small, towns hardly at all. George Floyd’s death has hit us all. One may have lost their job; their business; contracted the virus; known someone who did get “it” or sadly lost a friend or loved due to Covid-19. But all of us are appalled over the senseless death of George Floyd.
The uncertainty of Covid-19 – who has it, who have you been in contact with, is it safe? The questions many wonder and ask. Add to that how the virus moved. If you are in a large metropolitan city you know firsthand but if you are in a more rural area, you really do not see it. Covid-19 probably hasn’t touched your life with the exception of not getting your hair done, a restaurant being closed or [too many] losing one’s livelihood.
The killing of a black man at the hands of a white police patrolman and the complete turmoil that has erupted has in most areas of this country affected everyone, if not from a protest/riot standpoint then certainly from a philosophical one. What do we as a people accept? Where do we put the emphasis, on the looting and rioting or the killing of yet another black man? Circumstances would show we do not accept the killing of another black man. While looting and rioting are unacceptable, George Floyd’s death is not acceptable. That is where the importance resides.
Both of these issues have touched us all to some extent.
I leave you with the spiral looking for a way back to a sense of normalcy. In what form… we shall see.
Thank you for joining me on this journey.