Y SIN EMBARGO magazine

La entrevista a John Walford para Y SIN EMBARGO magazine #15, “inter-visto issue”:
3) Do you believe in (or do you subscribe to) an eschatology of transcendence?
// Crees en (o adhieres a) una escatología de la trascendencia?

7) How do you relate your creative activity
to your desire of being socially engaged
(in the critique of what exists and the creation of what could be)?
// ¿De qué manera se relaciona tu actividad creativa
a tu deseo de estar socialmente comprometido
(en la crítica de lo que existe y en la creación de lo que podría ser)?

10) What’s your pictosophy ?
// Cuál -o qué- es tu pictosofía?

11) What is it that does make sense to produce, in terms of culture, in this time?
// ¿Qué es lo que tiene sentido producir, en términos de cultura, en este tiempo?

14) What do you consider to be the defining event of your generation? If
you don’t believe there is one, what effect do you think this lack has
on the society in which you live?
// Cuál es el evento que, para ti, mejor define tu generación? Si no
encuentras ninguno, qué efecto tiene esta carencia para la sociedad en
la que vives?

ANSWERS

If I did not believe in an eschatology of transcendence (question #3), I would lose all directional motivation, yield to hedonism, go mad, or kill myself. Believing that life has transcendent meaning, and that we are accountable to our Creator for our choices and actions, I judge that our gifts are best spent in serving the common good. I therefore see my creative activity, as both an art historian and a photographer, as directed to constructive social ends, and the enrichment of my fellow human beings. Photography, like teaching and writing, is to me a critical form of social engagement, through which I seek to share with others whatever insight and understanding of the human condition that I have acquired in the crucible of life. In turn, I hope to receive from others, in like manner, thus engaging in a mutual exchange.

The question has been raised as to what has been the defining event of my generation (question # 14)? As one of the post-war, baby-boomers, it is hard to pinpoint a “defining event,” but two ‘symbolic’ ones—besides the more recent September 11th tragedy–that stand out are the assassination of JFK, and the death of Princess Diana. The assassination of Kennedy, like the later tragedy of September 11th, undermined any illusion that civilization had reached a level where rivalries and disputes could be settled by reasonable arbitration. It thus sounded, for our generation, the death toll to the myth of cultural progress. The death of Princess Diana—whom few knew, but multitudes admired–was mostly significant as a symbol that the reality in which many of us live is more mediated than real—just like this “magazine.” In short, in our massive response to the death of Princess Diana, as in many other matters, we have come to take as real what we encounter in the media. Mediated reality becomes our touchstone of what matters, of what defines significance, and how we register the circumstances around us.

If, however, the question about defining event is rephrased in terms of what gives defining identity to my generation, I would point at once to the prosperity of the post-war, baby-boomers, the availability of easy credit, the allure of mass consumerism, the globalization of markets and ideas, and the power of global communications available through the Internet. For starters, how and where are you reading this? In brief, I see our generation as defined by an abundance of resources, a dearth of core values, and a multitude of choices both for consumption and for worthy causes in which to devote energy. More of us have the luxury of a pick and choose, mix and match, switch direction, divorce and re-marry lifestyle than did our predecessors. Yet many of us are lost amidst the diversity, and drown out consideration of the virtue of one choice over another by losing ourselves into a narcissistic, and diverting consumerism (see my photo-diptych, Navigating the Maze). We simply face too many options, like a ship at sea, without a chart by which to navigate. Other than avoiding storm and shipwreck, which way we turn the helm becomes an arbitrary matter of personal preference.

So what does it make sense to produce at this time (question #11)? In light of my understanding of the nature of our times, as so described, my response, as a photographer and a reflective person, is to place high priority on challenging our mindless consumerism, and to provoke more reflection on life’s profounder purposes and meanings. With little sense of who we are, many of us pursue pleasure above virtue, since grounds for virtue seem notably absent from contemporary public discourse. This was my own circumstance, until I came to believe in our accountability to God, as our Creator. As has been said, ‘where there is no vision, the people perish.’ Without direction, or higher values, for what do we aim, except to reduce personal pain, and maximize pleasure?

Thus, in relating my creative activity as a photographer to my desire to be socially engaged (question # 7)—in attempting to actively critique what exists and imagining what could be—I am gradually coming to focus my efforts on some of the areas of our common life that keep us from being our best. Much of my photographic work is little more than visual gymnastics—exercising my visual skills and stretching my technical muscles, seeking to find and tune my voice. But out of that crucible, I see a focus developing on a number of fronts. One of these builds around the allure and dissatisfactions of consumer culture. Another focus has been on the image of life as a journey, with its diversions and destination. I have also made a few images provoked by revulsion for the Iraq War. Whatever the subject or theme—whether of nature or culture—my goal is to provide ample visual interest to attract the eye, while at the same time leaving a sufficient level of ambiguity—as also triggered by my titles–to provoke the viewer to further reflection.

The question (# 7) as posed—to critique what exists and to imagine what could be—highlights a problem that we all face, which is that critique of the status quo is easier than imagining better alternatives, just as newspapers and writers make better work of ‘bad’ news than ‘good’ news. This also touches the question of my personal ‘pictosophy’ (question #10). For myself, I find that the natural environment has much to teach us about the rhythms of life, what is wholesome and good, as well as what works well and harmonizes with larger frames of reference. Therefore, I have sometimes worked with nature/culture juxtapositions in my photographic diptychs. In such diptychs, I have also at times consciously used what I call an ‘aesthetics of disjunction,’ by which I mean a visual strategy that through its surprising juxtaposition of elements is intended to jolt the viewer out of our usual patterns of expectation, and so provoke thought. Occasionally, within my work, I also seek to allude to a ground for being and value on the transcendent level. But that is exceedingly challenging within the medium of photography, and the discourse of our time.

Since the common good is something that will only arise from our shared ingenuity and the desire for mutual well-being, it seems to me that the best that a photographer can do is to hold up a mirror to our shared folly and common struggles, noting good where we find it, and at the same time inspire viewers to search out, and activate the best within themselves.

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