Oculus
Time and the legacy of mnemosyne: We are creatures of habit and memory much more than we are creatures of contemplation and thought. As primates do, we mimic and master socially dictated patterns of behavior. And that is what we teach: We teach ourselves to become human. Communicating through images is certainly part of that endeavor, for images are a civilizing mechanism, even if our images don't always reflect civilized behavior. We can think of civilization as the legacy of our collective cultural memory, replete with its images. To become civilized is a process that each of us engages in while realizing our capacity to be human. Therefore, we will never be post-civilized. We are primitives trapped on the cusp of two worlds, struggling to free ourselves. To become other possibilities. To become more human. This is where time and memory have brought us. And this is where the legacy of Mnemosyne has left us: Able to contemplate our existence against two eternities of darkness.
Oculus, a photographic book about images, memory, and the metaphor of light.
96 pages; 35 plates.
Published by Noorderlicht.