Wednesday, February 4, 2009
2/5 Post card: Houghton Michigan
The post card that Michigan Tech students created on page143. I have been past that particular road sign, which the locals left up, several times. What I find interesting is that the author correctly identifies that the picture is a parody of postcards. However, having been around the students at Michigan tech, the postcard and the road sign are also a statement of how isolated the campus is from the towns and cities that the students came from. Houghton Michigan has very little to offer the students beyond academics most of the school year other than cross country skiing. The campus is located in a very small old town. Unlike MSU or U of M, few students remain in the area after graduating to offer interesting local arts or music or cafés. This has as much to do with the inhospitable weather as with the lack of engineering jobs most students need upon graduation. Chapter two focuses on how the viewer’s perspective alters the meaning of the photo. For me, the photo brings up personal memories, the thirty degree temperature drop that brought in the largest thunder storm I’ve ever seen, and three days without my luggage which was lost at the airport. The day I first saw the sign, there was fog behind it, just like the postcard shows. Is some form of writing required to be sure an image is interpreted as intended require?
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I think that is the problem with art in general; it will often be understood differently than the artist intended. If an image needs a written description to be understood, then poems could definitely use a written description telling what the poet intended. For me, that is the risk of sharing art, sharing anything really. As soon as it leaves your body it is left to someone else's interpretation, and you can never change that completely, not even with a written description.
ReplyDeleteI whole-heartedly agree with you Bridget. I think yes, text is required to guide a viewer closer to the original purpose..but that can really only get you so close. It is interesting to consider, however, that when working with images, you may NEED words for assistance in understanding.
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