Object Displacement

 Lost or abandoned items always feel as though there is a story associated with them.  A random pair of sunglasses, on top of a dustbin, a glove without its mate on top of a snow drift.  Things that we seem to drop along the way and never realize they are missing until we go looking for them or feel that void.  At the time, I wondered why I noticed these items and photographed them.  It's the physical representation of emotion or an intuitive moment perhaps.  I use imagery a lot, so forgive me as I indulge myself.

At times, there are things that happen to us that are not a result of any action we have taken.  At times there are events that happen in life that are the consequences of action or inaction, the results of our decisions.  A lost mitten doesn't seem like it would have any action except for the owner to get a new pair.  The sock that goes missing in a dryer, resulting in a drawer full of mateless socks.  We laugh about such things, these little things because we see them all of the time.

As I walked on, I wondered if in a strange way it was an unconscious form of self-sabotage.  My thoughts tend to want to explore the things we ignore on a daily basis.  We edit out these things because of the lack of importance.  We ignore what we see all of the time and walk by, blinded.  So I started a little game of details.  Random little details on my walks, that I would note and it has had a surprising effect.  It made me aware of subtle changes that happen continuously.  Instead of noticing change in accumulated moments, you can see it happening constantly, becoming more aware of your environment, seasons, surroundings and a form of subtle energy that we are blind to.

We forget how we are like this oasis of life in a 'space desert'.  We often get caught up in our life games created here that we forget about everything around us.  Intellectually, we acknowledge where we are, see pictures from around the globe, but our limits, well, not everyone has the ability or time to explore.

How does displaced objects relate to all of this mental masturbation?  Actually, it relates to my own blindness and for me, highlights where I may have a lack in my perceptive ability.  Things are not always what they seem to be.  Like the quote from Hesse.  I am trying to see beyond seeing.  To see more and to see less at the same time.  Sometimes a cigar is not a cigar and at other times it is.  The difference is knowing and the beginning of wisdom.  Then again, I am getting older and I tend to remember riddles.

And then I take a deep breath.