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"The birds have vanished into the sky, and now the last cloud drains away. We sit together, the mountain and me, until only the mountain remains." Li Po (701-762) |
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Alaska State Museum Temporary Exhibitions
George Provost
Alaska Artist Solo Exhibition
Observations without an observer: A contemplative view
These photographs result from an artist residency at Isle Royale National Park* in August of 1998. Wilderness landscape is used as a platform to explore existential issues of identity and meaning. The presumed duality of observer and observed is being questioned. It is a rare opportunity to work undistracted by society and all its trappings. It is even rarer to be free of the ultimate distraction: self. It is the self that filters, distorts, and fragments seeing, thus rendering impossible a meaningful interpretation of existence. The chatterbox mind, chained to the past, which is constantly busy, comparing, competing, and projecting, prevents seeing, all under the pretense of "interpretation." It is actually mis-interpretation. Attention becomes divided between seeing and commentary on what is seen. That is, attention becomes divided between the present and the past, or between the present and the future. Solitude and silence in a wilderness setting over a period of time can bring about a change in consciousness. Seeing creatively is to be able to see creation as it is, in the present, in its correct context, without interference from the past. This is possible when the actual nature of self is realized and its influence allowed ceasing.
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"The birds have vanished into the sky, and now the last cloud drains away. We sit together, the mountain and me, until only the mountain remains." Li Po (701-762) |
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*Editor’s note: Isle Royale National Park is in Lake Superior, between Michigan and Minnesota.
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Web posted 11/28/01
