Friends, I came across this wonderful image on Goggle Images this morning.
It suggests to me the evolution of humankind, the ugliness and cruelty of its current status and the uncertainty of what may come in the future.
Of course, this assumes we humans have a future.
What does this image say to you?
P.S. Image came from: www.headburroantfarm.wordpress.com
Humans. Prison inmates. They are both prisoners, but one is down. One lost its face. Is humanity melting away? What is left are shells of people in prisoner garb.
My son is eating breakfast and he just announced that zoos are bad places. We talked about just one example of the African king of the animals, the lion. Would the lion rather be in the jungle in Africa where it is king, or would it rather be in a cage at the zoo?
At our SF Zoo, there is a display of human activity on the earth. It tries to illustrate the unfathomable. It demonstrates how a tree is lost every few seconds on this planet and how this changes the face of our planet and the homes lost by all the creatures.
This morning on the news, I heard that the oli spill outside of New Orleans will affect the storks who Just layed their eggs and how vulnerable they are!
Modern humans are not looking to be the caretakers of this place. The insane have been put in charge of the asylum! The insane have turned the Garden of Eden, which this Earth once was (and at heart still is) into an asylum!
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For me this image speaks of the desire to retreat from reality into the virtual world, a world of distractions where the real world doesn’t bother us (that is until there are not enough resources for our air-conditioned homes). We avoid the corrupt governments and corporations and the world that they have created, and at the same time we give them a free hand to do whatever they like with our planet… That’s it, keep texting, facebooking or playing WoW, pay no attention to the world behind your window curtain.
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Hi – thank you for your kind words on my image – it was quite a hard shot to pull off and although I don’t think I quite nailed it, it does convey what I wanted it to. It is a shot of my avatar in Second Life looking at his reflection after a fire all but killed him. He went from a typical handsome human avatar to a (still) handsome half-human half-gazelle avatar to this, a burnt shell of his former self.
It is worth pointing out that this all happened to the poor soul in the course of me using Second Life to write stories. Nothing more, nothing less. I like to take photos. I like to write. But I use neither to switch off from the real, non-virtual world. Second Life is simply a hobby to me, a creative outlet. I have a family, job, social life, etc. here in the real world – Second Life is all too often assumed to be a replacement when really it’s an extension.
The chapter this image came from is here (http://headburroantfarm.wordpress.com/2010/03/23/mutations-chapter-1-seeking-isolation/) but to understand the journey that led my avatar to the fire and then beyond to this image taken in his remote wilderness home where he has retreated from humanity you may (or may not) want to read the previous stories I’ve written about him (and others) here: http://headburroantfarm.wordpress.com/burro-tales/
Thank again and if anyone wants to try Second Life I’d be more than happy to act as a guide to show you some of the wonderfully creative activities that are going on there – from art to historical roleplay, SL is a wonderfully fun place to play and occasionally escape. After all, what’s wrong with a little escape now and then? Isn’t that what a good book gives us? Or a wonderful piece of music? It’s up to each individual to realise that escaping is a temporary affair, not a replacement for reality
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Prison Inmates, or more like Prisoners of War. In the perpetual WOT, we are all a bit of prisoners to crimes. We are hostages at this stage.
I wrote this and then had to run. Will post as is. Thanks David!
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It looks like a reflection to me. I see the back of the head and it appears to be looking slightly down into a clear pool of water that reflects to us his face, and the clouds and tree limb against a clear blue sky.
I know that artists try to create symbols in their work. When I think of a clear pool of water, nice green branch, scattered white clouds against a clear blue sky that symbolizes to me that nature is pure.
The man’s face is tight, tense, drawn. He is contemplating his place in the world and he isn’t happy with what he sees in himself. His shirt has stripes or bars going up and down like prison bars. He is a prisoner in his own body, trying to free his mind so that he can stop being a prisoner.
But his eyes are not squinting or drawn. They are still just noticing…thinking long and hard about his situation. The light on the back of his head and neck is helping him.
He will have to make a decision here. Will he continue on as a prisoner or will he see himself as part of nature and make the changes that he needs to make?
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coco Reply:
May 2nd, 2010 at 5:23 am
yes kathy, that’s what i saw……….the back of someone’s head with someone looking down at him. but i didn’t spot the water reflection. good one.
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Friends, we are honored indeed to have the artist join us and explain his work although some of your observations of his image were very astute. Art is a wonderful thing because art challenges the imagination.
The melting face had a powerful, rather unsettling effect on me. I was reminded of the nuclear threat.
Then the virtual world frightens me too. Are we humans going to move from a religious world to a virtual world and still avoid reality at our cost?
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Whatever you guys see in my picture is valid – we all see and feel different things
As for moving into a virtual world from a religious world, it’s a good question. A virtual world would offer each of us a personalised heaven if the needs of the real body could be taken care of (or if the mind could be uploaded). Personally that sounds quite good to me, but I know it freaks others out. One thing is for sure, if they ever do get to a point where they can upload minds I just hope the system is not running Windows
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Grace Reply:
May 3rd, 2010 at 8:00 am
HeadBurro Antfarm, Thank you for visitng in this personal if virtual way. I appreciate the art and the artist combination. That makes the art and the people interacting and the artist, more alive!
I have never gotten involved in role playing groups, but it always seemed like the people that do, have a great time.
Intruiging. Thought provoking. “Forcing” :] a person to put into words their thoughts that they wouldn’t necessarily share with anyone.
Cool. Have a nice day : ).
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HBA Reply:
May 3rd, 2010 at 9:07 am
Hi – when I say “roleplaying” it’s really not like the dice & paper based Dungeons & Dragons I played as a kid in the 80s. Roleplaying is Second Life is much more like improv-theatre mixed with collaborative story telling. There are no stats and skills to worry about – just the tale, the tale that evolves as you interact with other players.
There *are* some places that use clever systems to regulate combat and the like – but I don’t play in those. Systems are all about handing over control of the story to chance and that chance is often tied to acts of violence (gun fights, vampire feeding attacks, pirate ship combat, etc.). I much prefer to set the tale free and follow where it leads.
In the type of Second Life roleplay I’m involved with, interactions between players thend to be acted out like improv-theatre with private chats between players to help steer the action/story. Some players never leave chacater – never. Some (like me) flip in and out all the time – sometimes I’m HeadBurro Antfarm the burnt fire victim, other times I’m David (my RL name) using HeadBuro Antfarm in Second Life to chat with friends around the world. There are no hard & fast rules.
The stories on my blog are the end result of all this roleplaying, this improv-theatre, in Second Life. Some are just down to me, myself & I but others are the product of much planning and discussion with other players in both Second Life & over email. That highly creative process is fun in itself if I’m honest.
When done right, roleplaying is nothing more or less than friends telling a story together
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David- I enjoyed the diversion I got from watching the video. However, your title (What are we? What will we become?) to me, is awe inspiring. A question not easily answered. With the events of the present situation in the world we share it is hard for me to be optimistic. When I was young, I thought that truth, justice, compassion, and integrity were valued attributes. I am over 50 and honestly wher I would expect to see these things practiced (Governments), it is not so. Hopefully we will become something honorable. Peace!
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I like your sense of humor, HeadBurro!
76-water, I find it hard to be optimistic as well. That we might become noble and honorable has always been my hope even if these things are rarely seen anymore.
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Women give birth to human life, and most murders of humans are done by men.
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Therese, it does seem an irony, I agree. Men certainly didn’t learn these things from their mothers.
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Grace Reply:
May 3rd, 2010 at 12:26 am
Only women bleed, but men sure spend an unusual amount of time in ritualistic blood-letting!
Yes, it is too bad men don’t learn more from the women in their lives. Maybe they would learn that they, the men, have other great qualities besides blood-letting and women need them for those! A great movie if you can handle the blood, is Sin City, a Quentin Tarantino classic. There are alot of deeper insights into men and women and the roles we play.
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kathy Reply:
May 3rd, 2010 at 8:15 am
Grace, ‘Only women bleed’ (great old Alice Cooper song right?) I actually read or saw video somewhere about this. It had something to do with matriarchal or partriarchal societies. (I get sad with myself when I can’t remember where I heard it!!) That is information overload when I can’t give a link or remember where I heard this…..
But…I think this may tie in with Therese’s posts too. Men don’t shed blood naturally so they have to improvise and do it violently. They do not learn this from their mothers. Is it nature or nuture? Therese I will have to study your links to ICH. Perhaps some mothers teach violence to their young sons but not most mothers. That they are training our young men to turn on their own people is very sad. This is not nature!
Grace, I have made a note to self to rent Sin City. I just finished watching Avatar. It portrays us as the ‘aliens’ invading the pure planet of ‘Pandora’. The majority of us are a sad lot! We were meant to be much more than we have shown ourselves to be so far.
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Grace Reply:
May 3rd, 2010 at 8:14 am
Re: Sin City. I remembered that all the blood was done in black and white. Very clever. SO you can’t blame it on the blood. It is the men that are killers. Different men For different reasons. If you can stand That! it is a Great movie. If you stay with it, there are connections to men at the highest eschelons. Also, It is a memorable tribute to the anti-hero. Several of them.
Mickey Rourke’s character if you realize it is him, is amazing.
Ok, gotta go to the library. I am fortunate to live in one of the few towns with Sunday library hours. Subject for another day. Yay!
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“Why Soldiers Get a Kick Out of Killing, Nature or Nurture?” by John Horgan, ICH – .reading the amount of reality this article brings can ruin your day, if you let it. It was first printed in Scientific America on 4/23/10. They are now being trained to hate their own people,and to take over their own country.
Oh, yes I do hate the image at the start of this report .
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HeadBurro Antfarm Reply:
May 3rd, 2010 at 12:54 am
“Oh, yes I do hate the image at the start of this report”
Eeeek! It’s only a picture. I was never meant to represent such dark concepts as you guys seem to see in it. The fact you do see such things in it is interesting, but slightly scary – I don’t think I’d like to view the world in such harsh, brutal terms myself.
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Hi Headburro Antfarm! I don’t think I saw the image as ‘dark’. I saw it as a contemplative moment in man’s life path. (But it could go dark if he didn’t choose the right path).
I would like to hear your thoughts on the image. Did the stripes on the shirt represent anything in particular? I saw the light on the back of the neck, the clear blue sky reflection, the green branch and white clouds as good symbols. The man’s eyes also struck me. Perhaps they were tired or just a shell of the previous but there was still hope in them to me.
Oh, one more thing…there is a shadow on the back of the man’s neck coming up from the collar of the shirt. Is that meant to be a clue or symbol of something? Forgive me if I’m asking stupid questions. I’m not yet familiar with second life studies. But I think your image is awesome!!!
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HBA Reply:
May 3rd, 2010 at 8:48 am
Hi Kathy,
Before I answer your questions please let me say that I really do believe that what anyone sees in an image is valid to that person. I want to make that clear because what I’m about to say could, if I did not make that belief clear, sound as though I’m being wilfully contrary when it really is not.
In all honesty none of what you saw in the picture was planned or intended. The shirt was bought as a roughly period-acurate shirt and the shadow is actually the representation of braces drawn into the pattern of the shirt (there are technical reasons why the braces would be drawn on to the shirt rather than exist as a seperate item of clothing, but I’ll not bore you with them). I didn’t plan the light in any deeper way than using a full noon light as it gave me the clearest reflection on the water surface. The clouds are in there to show the relfection was of the sky – also they broke up a boring block of blue.
Now there is nothing to say that on some deper, less-than-concious level some of these didn’t occur to me – I find that when I take a photo in real life or arrange a snapshot in Second Life there is a part of my brain controlling my actions. The nearest I can describe it is to say there is a narrative going on in my head when I set up a shot that I’m not always aware of – it weighs and judges and shifts my eye and hand in subtle ways. Sometimes I end up with a shot I wasn’t planning and have no idea how I got
So whilst I say I never intended any of the things you saw in the picture, it might be better to say I wasn’t aware of intending any of them
The odd thing is, since taking that picture (some months ago now I think) I have been turning over many ideas for the next part of the character’s story and one theme or idea I kep coming back to is one of murder – of turning him to a murderer. Maybe the picture is a defining moment in this guy’s life after all – a cross-roads after which he surrenders to the darker side of his soul.
Hmmm, you’ve given me something to ponder there…
p.s. I normally only get the chance to talk about these things to fellow writers in Second Life (or my poor, long-suffering wife in real life) so to have this conversation here is refreshingly diffeent
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Grace, you are so right: we do play roles, many of them. That makes us all actors but most of us will never win an Academy Award!
Kathy, I’m not sure what we were meant to be. Perhaps it was to be the only species that smokes.
Therese, that WikiLeaks video taken in Iraq reveals all you need to know about soldiers.
Headburro, your image has transcended your intent. That’s a sure sign of brilliance!
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HBA tipped me to this discussion on Twitter, and I’d like to just chime in briefly on a technical aspect–which I do think adds to things.
Second Life only recently (and by ‘recently’ I mean mid-2008, I think, leading into 2009 for most people) gained reflective water. For some people with exceptional systems, there are working shadows. Most people don’t have shadows, and I’d lay claim to about half of all total users not having really good water reflections.
So all the reflections have to be ‘cheats’, in a sense. For a highly polished floor in Second Life, one builds a partially transparent floor, with a mirror image of the room or the structures underneath the floor to fool the eye. The best use of this was seen in a sim (short for ‘simulator’, the space devoted to that particular construction on a computer server) modeled heavily on the ‘Blade Runner’ architectural style–they had puddles on the dark streets, which were actually transparent, with a faint sheen, and the buildings were reproduced, fully shadowed, underneath the ground layer–so as you walked, you could look down and see the ‘reflection’ of the buildings in the puddles.
In this sense, there is no place in Second Life where one can lean over a pond and see a reflection in the first place–so the photograph itself is something of roleplay, but on a digital level. The two easiest ways to accomplish it are to take the photo leaning over the pond, then take another with the camera angle moved to beneath the pool, and edit them together; or simply to swing the camera around, taking the back of the head as one shot, the front face as another, and editing *those* together replacing sky for pool.
I’ve done mirror photos this way, and I always find the various techniques employed fascinating.
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