The Answer to Meaning
We have questions
Photographically I’ve been making things lately that are not yet approved for publication, and I’m not in charge of the timelines. These are excellent projects, but the process is a little bit frustrating for a personality like mine. I prefer to do things, complete them, and move on to the next thing.
While my preference leads to volumes of work, is it a “good” thing? Is it wise, or healthy? It’s likely none of these.
But when I’m tested with an interruption, I sometimes step back from all my routines a bit. I sometimes look at larger questions, particularly as I try to compose these weekly letters.
Triggered by some of the images that I can share from the last couple of weeks, I did just that.
Scenes from the desert
I found myself pondering big questions. You know, the largest ones. Questions for which there are competing answers. Answers which are believable or not depending on who you are. Questions which might seem unanswerable to any of us in a given, difficult moment.
These thoughts may have re-emerged due to my remote location in the desert, and perhaps due to human events that are touching my life. As I write this today, some of my friends are in good health, but others are not, and I’m sad for those who are not.
The anniversary of my father’s death came a few weeks ago; my mother’s will arrive later this year. For most who read this article, our own anniversaries of completion will enter the human history logs sometime this century. And then we’ll be gone from here.
Time is funny. In a given moment, a century seems like forever. Other times a century seems like a brief moment. As noted in a report curated by 1440, archeologists recently uncovered “what is believed to be a 130,000-year-old stingray sculpture; [the] artifact would be the oldest known example of humans sculpting depictions of other animals.” There’s a good chance that soon we’ll discover artwork that’s even older; they estimate sand castles and sand drawings go back 140,000 years, at least.
Crazy.
We often think about human history in terms of civilizations, wars, conquests, and the like. The sculpture story made me think of human history in terms of how long people have been making art. I considered, for the first time, history in terms of a timeline of all artists’ lives leading up to my own. The idea is beautiful, overwhelming, and humbling. 140,000 years of art created by billions and billions of people over the years, and I’ve been at it for just a few decades.
Still, it makes me smile. I’m enjoying looking at human history through this lens. People have been driven to make things for so very long, whether for a specific reason or not. We continue to be so driven.
But what does it mean?
Meaning is an interesting topic, the subject of our largest questions. I suspect the desert clouds shown above don’t care about the meaning of life, as heavenly as they might appear to be. Some of us may wonder whether any deity, being, or life-force is among us; others are certain. We may look to nature for signs. The world may be telling us something when it rains upon us, or shines light. Or we may be creating attributions from nothing.
I don’t personally have The Answer. I don’t know if I seek it exactly, but many of us desperately want one, whether we are actively seeking it or not.
"Everything must have a purpose?" asked God.
"Certainly," said man.
"Then I leave it to you to think of one for all this," said God.
And He went away.”
― Kurt Vonnegut, Cat’s Cradle
Humorists try to help us out from time to time. According to another pretty famous humorist we have The Answer already, as I was reminded when I made the next image.1
I’m not sure he’s right, but I look for his answer wherever I go.
What is our future?
With due respect to the asterisk, any answers about meaning and our existence on this planet are not universally accepted, and there’s even less agreement about the future. While some people are astonishingly certain (Dunning-Kruger) they know what’s coming next, we absolutely do not have agreement. Certainly not in big-picture terms here on Earth. If AI plays out in a Terminator sort of way, humanity’s future may prove to be… let’s just call it “challenging”. Or perhaps a Westworld future lies ahead.
Return from the desert
Throughout history we have told stories of emergence from the desert. The concept has been an artistic theme from the “Book of Exodus” to “The English Patient”. When I returned from the desert last week and visited the coast it felt like a minor type of emergence; certainly more pleasant than the robotic, dystopian one that I’d imagined above. (Remember, pretty pictures are not often my calling!)
A cold, hard, dark dystopia is among our possible futures. But it’s not the only path forward. Our future may yet be bright. Yayoi Kasama proclaims that we are all colorful dots, and we are all connected. A near centenarian, the 95-year-old Japanese artist who lovingly persists, battling through her own life questions, creates immersive work that is in its own way personal, astonishing and marvelous.
Artists often remind me, as the Yayoi did last week, that we might be just fine even without all the answers if we can continue to create, and if we can be present to the wonders of life. As people have done for millennia, it turns out.
Until next time,
Limited Edition Prints for Sale
Another channel of my photography. Oof. But as promised, I’ve got this new set of Limited Edition prints available for purchase. Any unsold African wildlife images from last fall, as promised, have been retired from circulation.
Each edition consists of ten Numbered Prints and two Artists Prints, 16x24” silver halide, with certificate of authentication. As before, these are limited both by number and duration of the offer. If you’d like one or more for that special person, don’t hesitate. You wouldn't want to become he who is lost!
Is there something here you like or dislike? Questions? Have anything else to say? Let us all know by clicking on the Comments button below, and express yourself. Don’t be shy, now.
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Visit: www.dobkinphoto.com
(I’m sorry, but The Answer is not Allen Iverson, although in his own style he has frequently been a humorist too.)
I love the black and white image "Emergence",in storage in Nevada.
I feel drawn to dark images myself and love the tones, shapes, and texture in this one.
I also agree with this and hope that it continues to be true: "Artists often remind me, as the Yayoi did last week, that we might be just fine even without all the answers if we can continue to create, and if we can be present to the wonders of life. "
I still think 42 is as good an answer as any