KERN writings…

An MFA Thesis Year Journal Entry: 9/8/19

Slideshow Projections: the carousel

“As we envision life, we create it.  As we think, we do.  Experiencing ourselves as participants, we foster attitudes in ourselves and in our communities that allow a lively and respectful dialogue between body and earth.”  (Olsen, p. 9)   If you view a photo, do you feel like a participant?  Does it connect you to life, to your spaces?  Is that what photography is about…seeing a photograph so that you can be a participant, to feel like you were there, to feel like you too experienced the captured moment within that space, within that person’s life.

The product of my life…photographs.  From an early age I was brought up as a child watching countless carousels of slides in the living room…each telling a story.  These stories were the memories of family trips of adventures around the world, sibling fun, growth as humans, strife, loss, innocence of youth, accomplishments, work success, military pride, American life, travels of life together as a family.  Snapshots of individuals stories.  Snapshots of where people started and where they ended…within the room, watching the carousel.  The living room crowd, wishing they were back in the photograph, to relive the moment, to pause time for just a second, as they didn't’ realize life would go so fast.  It didn’t occur to me that the time I spent in a dimmed room lit by a projectors dust in front of the lens, swirling like snow…. could have contributed to how I became a photographer.  

A sense of self emerges with introspection of this time as a child viewing slides of life, they have been imprinted within my memories as if I was in all of those slides.  I was there, I saw the scene, I felt what the viewers narrated.  With this carousel, there is a sadness, a loss of where did the time go.   Can photography be based on that simple fact of we all want to be a participant?  We need to feel like we matter within the dynamic of the history of the slides, that the slides continue to mean something is the unending desire to belong, to experience, to live.

Experiencing one’s peek at their past through pictures in this living room landscape, on reflection takes us back to our bioregions of the spaces we remember.   What made an impact in our memories has a direct correlation to where we were, who was there, what was said, who said what, how everyone felt, the joy, the sadness, the event, the living room… has formed me.  We are molded by and guided in life by what we hold onto by place.  Everything stays with us, forms a particular part of us.  This carousel instant has had a direct experience within me, the swirling snow in front of the projectors lens, has contributed to who I am, and what I document in front of my own lens.

“Our attitudes inform our actions; the way we think affects what we do.”  (Olson, p. 7)  The carousel of slides within the living room, has given me insight into the power of a photograph.  It has given me the respect for a family history within photographs.  It has made me aware of the loss of time, the pining that we all do to go back within the picture, to feel like we belonged even if we weren't there, to feel like we are a participant within the life we view through a lens.  

It is a revelation, that I became a photographer, that I can produce the living room slideshow for someone else and that in the slideshow reflection, I too wanted to be a participant within so many photographs.

OLSEN, ANDREA. BODY AND EARTH: an Experiential Guide. WESLEYAN UNIV PRESS, 2020.

—  teaching STATEMENT

What do you see? Capturing the answers to this question is my challenge to teach my students.

To capture life through art fuels the desire to see the world around you in a new way, to be enlightened by a fresh viewpoint, and instills a quest for creating. My goal is to teach my students to interpret their world through an artistic manner, to reflect on the aesthetic possibilities that surround them, and to enjoy the process of learning how to creatively express life’s impressions.

My teaching philosophy is built on : Show me how to be great and I will excel; Guide me to the top and I will lead others; Ask questions and we all learn from the answers… In the end, we discover, learn, and create together.

A class that leads to a positive interaction within visual arts encourages and allows the freedom to see, create, feel, and to show. I strive to inspire and engage my students to want to learn, to gain a perceptive curiosity, to ask questions of life, art, and practice; to guide them to see the artistry that they as students are capable of designing.

Teaching a visionary process by applying our creative abilities, will impel my students to develop provoking work that can lead to change and a critical appreciation that will create a hunger to see life in a new way.

US

bonnieKERN
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www.bonniekernmfa.com