Perception and Art Galleries
Everyone's perception of the world is different. We know this, but it can be easy to forget sometimes. I was reminded of just how different our realities are today by my roommate during our trip to the art gallery.
As a side bar, the first thing I thought of was The Deepest Touch, and the discussion of the cultural shift away from handling museum artifacts, and towards the visual experience of the art. Some of the pieces were clearly texturized, but I could only look at them from a distance, instead of connecting with the art on a physical level.
Despite this, the visual experience was beautiful. I was stunned by the creativity of my peers and the sheer talent around me. The exhibits were beautiful and thought provoking, and you all should go. Anyways, my roommate and I were looking at one of the pieces, and there were people in front of us, so we were hanging back a little. I was curious as to what the motivation of the piece was, so I was reading the write up next to it. All of a sudden, my roommate turns to me and says, "Can you seriously read that from here?!" Surprised, I say "yes, why?" and she tells me that, even with her contacts, she can't read it from that distance . She then illustrates to me "just how blind she is" without her contacts and leans down until her face is about eight inches from the write up, saying that that is how close she needs to be in order to read it.
I was taken aback by this sudden and concrete example of how different the world appears to each of us. Just my ability to read this paragraph from a slight distance separates me from Lydia's view of the world. And in a more abstract way, this art gallery is a different representation of how perception varies. Each of these artists had an idea, a way of seeing the world, and they used art as a medium of sharing it with the rest of us. Many of these pieces were food related, and focused on how both the presence and absence of food can be such an absorbing element in people's lives. One of the other exhibits was about phobias, and it had portraits of people's faces with, for example, insects drawn into it. This got me thinking about phobias another manifestation of the variation in people's perceptions. I have no issue with bugs, but some people see them as terrifying creatures and they illicit a dramatic response from them. I would imagine that the physical form of these insects would appear larger and more nasty looking to someone who is extremely afraid of them, while someone else might not even notice their existence.
Perception is such a funny thing, isn't it?
As a side bar, the first thing I thought of was The Deepest Touch, and the discussion of the cultural shift away from handling museum artifacts, and towards the visual experience of the art. Some of the pieces were clearly texturized, but I could only look at them from a distance, instead of connecting with the art on a physical level.
Despite this, the visual experience was beautiful. I was stunned by the creativity of my peers and the sheer talent around me. The exhibits were beautiful and thought provoking, and you all should go. Anyways, my roommate and I were looking at one of the pieces, and there were people in front of us, so we were hanging back a little. I was curious as to what the motivation of the piece was, so I was reading the write up next to it. All of a sudden, my roommate turns to me and says, "Can you seriously read that from here?!" Surprised, I say "yes, why?" and she tells me that, even with her contacts, she can't read it from that distance . She then illustrates to me "just how blind she is" without her contacts and leans down until her face is about eight inches from the write up, saying that that is how close she needs to be in order to read it.
I was taken aback by this sudden and concrete example of how different the world appears to each of us. Just my ability to read this paragraph from a slight distance separates me from Lydia's view of the world. And in a more abstract way, this art gallery is a different representation of how perception varies. Each of these artists had an idea, a way of seeing the world, and they used art as a medium of sharing it with the rest of us. Many of these pieces were food related, and focused on how both the presence and absence of food can be such an absorbing element in people's lives. One of the other exhibits was about phobias, and it had portraits of people's faces with, for example, insects drawn into it. This got me thinking about phobias another manifestation of the variation in people's perceptions. I have no issue with bugs, but some people see them as terrifying creatures and they illicit a dramatic response from them. I would imagine that the physical form of these insects would appear larger and more nasty looking to someone who is extremely afraid of them, while someone else might not even notice their existence.
Perception is such a funny thing, isn't it?
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