A beginning is a very delicate time…
Frank Herbert, Dune
As Children we are, and I was very vulnerable to the elements and environment around me. I was powerless to their impact.
Everything seemed so far away.
Is a reference to the Catholic Church's influence on a young child. They taught, in my interpretation in the 50's and 60's, Hellfire and Damnation and the fear of going to Hell if I wasn't a 'good boy.' They did literally, put the fear of God up me! They embedded me with Guilt and Shame.
In reality it was they who should have carried the Guilt and Shame, of the many scandals that have surfaced over the years of child abuse inflicted by their own clergy and how senior figures, including the Pope tried to put a 'veil' over them in the hope that they would disappear.
See Awards.
I used to think there could only be one truth in any given situation. I now know that not to be true.
Dialectical thinking refers to the ability to view issues from multiple perspectives and to arrive at the most economical and reasonable reconciliation of seemingly contradictory information and postures.
The title of this image is a line taken from the song, ‘Another Brick in the Wall’ by Pink Floyd.
And for me, a reminder of how sadistic teachers of my childhood, including Nuns, could be, when dishing out punishment to children.
‘Many times we've shared our thoughts
But did you ever, ever notice
The kind of thoughts I got?’
A verse from the song ‘I See A Darkness’ by Will Oldham.
Again, is a reflection of my often distorted thinking and reality and how I see myself to those around me and the world I inhabit.
Regrets, I've had a few
But then again, too many to mention
Slightly modified lyric from the song, My Way
Shadows have always had something otherworldly about them for me.
Either like the menacing shadow of Nosferatu the Vampire, or just simply an awareness of another presence but without necessarily knowing who or what.
And sometimes just beautiful light and shade.
Exhibited, The Glasgow Gallery of Photography, 2nd-23rd December 2023
Who or what am I waiting for, pleasure or pain?
Exhibited at The Glasgow Gallery of Photography October 2024. See Awards & Exhibitions Certificate.
I have been conscious for quite a long time that I have many ‘Others’ within my personality but had never considered that they all came from the same source/self, they always felt separate from the whole.
I now know that they do belong to the whole but my many ‘Others’ were created to protect me as a child and to some extent they still try to do so in adulthood and often surface, inappropriately, uncharacteristically and often scarily.
Shadows, they often creep up on you, like some lurking sinister figure.
Walk a mile in my shoes
Just walk a mile in my shoes
And before you abuse, criticize and accuse
Just walk a mile in my shoes
Elvis
It’s very easy to make assumptions or judgements without knowing the full context of someones story
I was hooked on the video game of the same name for a period in the early 80’s
But the title is again a play on words because I was also thinking about the people who have invaded my space over the years and I there’s.
Some have been very welcome but others who abusively invaded my space were definitely not welcome but came nonetheless!
Shadows do the same, one minute they’re not there and the next they’re invading our space.
The title is a song by Elvis Costello.
I’m also reminded of a quote attributed to Confucius ‘Life is simple but we insist on making it complicated’ and I think that can be true of me. The answer to a problem can often be staring me in the face but I choose many different paths before coming back to the original thought.
Is there only a single self or more than one?
Is there only one reality or more than one?
Is there only one truth or more than one?
As much as I try to move on from my past, it always seems to move on with me.
Homage to Alfred Hitchcock
Of innocence, lovers/friends/things that once were but are no more.
"One does not become enlightened by imagining figures of light, but by making the darkness conscious. The later procedure, however, is disagreeable and therefore not popular"
Carl Jung
Most famously the story of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson is a good example of the "The Shadow Self" The internal battle with good and evil that we may all possess.
The past repeatedly interfering, impacting and triggering on present behaviour and experience.
Up or down, it’s your choice?
It’s suggested that we have choices when deciding between right and wrong but do we really?
Are we always in a position of rationale or do our emotions dictate the decisions we take, even though we may know a decision to be wrong?