As a continuation of a series of ponderings, Camera Revelatorium delves into the unknown. For some years I have been thinking about our perception and how our senses play a role in how we perceive. I believe there is more beyond what we can “see”, and I often think about how other lives interpret. For example, if I can never truly understand how you interpret the color blue, then how will I ever know how a jellyfish sees that same color? And although this example is easily understandable, there could be a world of such examples that lay way beyond what is available to us. This is the Unknown; the world of things that we do not know we do not know. And maybe it’s because we cannot even see the thing to begin with. What if jellyfish live in a world with far more creatures than we’ll ever be able to find because they have a way to see them that we will never even know to look for?
Camera Revelatorium looks at one aspect of this massive question, sight and sound, and how what we see and hear may not fully describe the reality that other creatures live in. Here, a tool is necessary for us humans, to better understand what we think we know of the reality of another being. Without the tool, the beings appear to be two, similar but distinct forms. Inside the camera, it is revealed that the beings are truly one. The sounds merge and their forms become a single form projected in real-time, using an old projection technique, on a piece of glassine.
In their environment, the forms gently crackle. Slowly, almost imperceptibly. As if time were of no importance in this world without sunrises. But I have recorded it over time and quickened the pace for you. For your ears to better understand.
Their slow sound, their communication, becomes a rattling. A song of who they are.
Over the next three weeks, I will spend time observing these forms. Writing about my time with them, in their space and from behind the lens.
Thank you for stepping into the unknown with me.
