Tell me a story

Last week we talked a little bit about how people are not as interested in objects alone anymore; we need to know the history of the object in order to feel wonder. I wonder if maybe this is because we now have access to so much imagery as well as so much information in general that we are not used to creating our own narratives and histories for new things. We have become so used to knowing everything or at least easily being able to find out whatever we want that we feel we need to know the whole story behind something in order to understand it. I think there is also more focus on truth and fact; on knowing exactly why something looks the way it does, where it came from, how it got here etc. I really appreciate all this history and fact that we now have access to, but I do think there is something to be said for the creativity and flexibility it requires to create your own narrative for something. I think sometimes its hard for people in the modern age to be open and flexible enough the look at something that they cannot easily understand and place in a preconceived category. I feel like this is especially true of art, but some of the pieces that I find the most fascinating are the ones that leave a little for space to create your own story for what you are seeing. If everything is explained for you there's no reason to spend anymore time looking at it.

Robert and Shana Parkeharrison have a series of photographs called the Architect's Brother that are just really beautiful images, but also full of potential narrative. In most the explanation or history of the image is not immediately clear but they provide the perfect opportunity for the viewer to create their own story. They also play with the idea of falsification and created histories and scenarios which I think is really interesting.







Their website has a lot more of their great images.