“Photography is a way of learning to read your culture.” — Joel Meyerowitz
It started to dawn on me that everything I had photographed up until that point was just some sort of preparation to provide me with the insight to make those pictures. And that was my life’s work.”
Christopher Anderson, Magnum photographer and New York Times contributor
“All of art, literature, Mozart, Shakespeare, Michelangelo, and the Empire State Building — is just an elaborate mating ritual. The peacock can barely fly, but it consoles itself with its great beauty.” — Dr Ford in Westworld
Although this is a formidable statement that incites a rethink of one’s own perspective on life, here I’ll have to partially disagree with Doctor Ford. If it is true that the Arts, just like any other skill set, will serve in building one’s self-identity, they can also serve a much wider, selfless purpose.
The Arts provide an understanding of the world on an intuitive, emotional level, something which rational thought can never truly achieve — and often gets in the way of. This is how Doctor Ford frees his fictional androids from their preprogrammed life: by giving them an ability for intuition. ◼︎
