HEAR IT?

“We come from a dark abyss, we end in a dark abyss, and we call the luminous interval life.” N.Kazantzakis

In the movie Dead Poets Society, professor John Keating asks his students to look closely at old pictures of former students. He tells them that the bodies they see in the pictures are now fertilizing daffodils, and that even their own bodies will one day be food for worms. Keating urges his students to lean forward to listen to what these bodies can tell them. The students are hesitant, because photographs, and dead people, are not known to have the ability to talk. Keating whispers behind their backs giving voice to the pictures: “Carpe diem, seize the day boys, make your lives extraordinary”. Keating’s whisper is analogous to Kazantzakis’ “Cry”; an inner voice that calls for change. As Keating’s voice joins that of Kazantzakis, seizing the day means deciding upon which traditions to abandon and which to pursue.

“Hear it?” is an installation consisting of 6 lithographs measuring 22 by 30 inches each
one, printed on rag paper, and mounted on a black wall with screen-printed captions at the bottom. The six lithographs are variations of the same image, showing a field of people’s faces gradually transforming into a sea of stars. The captions of text running along the images use source materials from the movie “Dead Poets Society” and from N.Kazantzakis work “The Saviors of God; spiritual exercises”. Creating a dialogue with the images, the text personalizes the experience of the changing images, reaching out to the viewer to really “hear” what is happening.