Taking A Closer Look…
This past May I took a trip to Europe where I visited Spain and France. I enjoyed the experience, but I encountered a cultural difference which caused me stress and anxiety each day and night. My hotel rooms did not have clocks. Throughout the cities of Paris and Madrid I rarely saw clocks. Since my cell-phone did not work, I only knew the time by chance of seeing one or attempting to ask a native. I am accustomed to constantly checking the time and being on the move. Mostly, the only times I stop to look at something is when I check the time on my phone. The fast paced process Americans follow each day keeps us from truly experiencing our surroundings. In an effort to change that about myself, I looked closer at a few things I see every day.
First I took out my Connecticut state driver’s license (under 21). I never noticed how much I like the design. New York and New Jersey licenses have boring bland colors and look horrible. My license has a blue sky with scattered clouds as the background. At the bottom, I can see a lighthouse on a rocky coast with waves coming in. The license reminds me of my home town. Connecticut makes me think of beaches, sailing, and lighthouses. My license reflects my image of home, and I never appreciated it before. Comparing to my roommate’s New Jersey ID, makes me appreciate my CT license and the effort put into making it different.
A billboard I used to see all the time around my hometown popped into my head next. It had a huge picture of the character Shrek on it and it said “Be an Oger-Achiever”. I saw the billboard almost every time I got in the car for about a year. I always laughed at the play on words and considered it an advertisement for young kids. Now that I think about it more, using Shrek to inspire would probably only work on a young age group that would not understand the joke. The billboard probably stuck in my head more than it did in young children’s or parents’ minds. Although I did not take the message to heart and feel instantly inspired, it has always amused me. By entertaining me, the billboard got its message through to me and maybe not caused me to “oger-achieve” but kept it in the back of my head for awhile. It makes me think that messages can be effective even if the intended meaning does not reach the viewer.
I came across a picture of Israelites raising a Jewish Flag in 2005 before they left the Gaza Strip. The image reminded me of the famous raising of the flag on Iwo Jima photograph and I drew a connection to the Shrek billboard. The Iwo Jima image helped rally moral for the war and inspire people to support their country. Although the image represented bravery and triumph to the people of America, the reality of the photograph does not enforce those ideas. The famous picture shows six men raising the second flag in Iwo Jima. Different men raised the first in the heat of victory and risked their lives walking back to the troops. The flag was too small and when it was safe, another group of men raised a larger flag. In the case of the Shrek billboard, I did not receive the intended message. In this case, the intended message does not mirror the reality behind the image but was still effective and remains a historical image today. These ideas bring me back to the picture of the Israelites raising the Jewish Flag, and I have to wonder what the true story is behind what I see.
As I take a closer look at the images I choose to hang around my room, I realize something about myself. I enjoy the mystery and loose interpretation of images. Art by Van Gogh, Monet, and Diego Velazquez cover my walls. I bought a copy of Velazquez’s Las Meninas in Spain. The painting is famous for the mysterious points of view and messages within the work. I enjoy thinking of my own solutions to the painting and believing that I deciphered the dead artist’s true message. I love Monet and Van Gogh paintings because of the brush strokes used. The artists don’t create a clear, definite image. They are impressionists and manipulate their work to represent an image which each viewer sees differently. Monet’s Lillies can hang any way and look correct. Sometimes the painting looks flat, and other times I can see the dimensions and visualize the water moving. By taking a closer look around my own room, I can see that I enjoy thinking for myself and appreciating images that allow me to do so.
