Tuesday, January 29, 2013

"Environments are invisible."

The set of photographs I chose as a response to McLuhan's notion of the "antisocial" were all taken on a weekend trip home to Minnesota. They display different parts of Minnesota (the city, country, and wealthier areas). Originally, I wanted to hone in on the idea that "antisocial" is non-existent in the American culture by taking snapshots of people in diverse environments. Then I found myself in a lot of mundane scenery and zero to few people (which happens when it is cold outside in MN). I found myself snapping pictures without a a specific goal, but then looking back at the images I found that the pictures were telling a short, simple story that related to a few specific contentions of McLuhan's. 

I liked McLuhan's bit on story lines and humor, so I chose to make my book a bit of a story with the text. On the first and last page it reads, "Where everything is unique and beautiful, but, therefore not at all." Basically, we have to have ugliness and conformity to obtain beauty and McLuhan's idea of "antisocial." Though this is true, as America is an individualistic culture, to be "unique" or "different" or "independent" is actually conforming to society's demands. I found Minnesota's lack of people in the streets demonstrated a bit of an antisocial aura while walking around because the streets rarely had more than two or three people on them.  Older venues for selling music and books were almost vacant, which one may conclude is due to the new technologies that are available.

It is interesting that during my stay in Minnesota I hung out with college dropouts, which McLuhan may have applauded according to his professional vs. amateur arguments. 









4 comments:

  1. I love it Rose! The justipositions on each page are simply fantastic, and they are my favorite part. I also really like how you came about your idea by just snapping pictures of random things at first. Your photos really relate to the certain comments of McLuhan's that you mention in your reflection too.

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  2. I really like the diversity of the images and areas of study, it really makes you think.

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  3. I love your photos, because they're very natural. :)

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  4. Yo, gurl. These photos are so midwest. I luvem. Especially the one of the cross stitch Minnesota. "Where everything is unique and beautiful, and therefore, not at all." PREACH.

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