GOCA Assignment

GOCA Assignment

Part 1

Wandering the streets I find my first odd sculpture.  Standing there just staring.
Finally looking around to see kids playing, people chatting, dogs running around.
One thing comes to mind: unlock possibilities, be open, and embrace the unknown. 

Continuing on the journey. I find Mr. Snowman.  He looks more depressing and scary as metal.
Even with that smile. I sit and think about frustration. Focusing in on his smile I realize something.
No matter your inner frustration, a smile can do wonders for the soul.

Where else do the streets take me? A piece of art that stopped me immediately in my tracks.
I see it clearly. No matter how dead we feel to ourselves or the world.
Find your rock. That will always keep you up.

Turning the corner, I look above and see my dear little friend.
I wonder, "how many people walk by and never see you up there?"
A little solitude in a busy world is not such a bad thing.

Ending my course, I see the flag. I think about my short walk. What did I just learn?
Embrace possibilities, smile, have a solid foundation and take time for yourself.
Who knows what the sculptures meant to the artist but that's the beauty of it, you have the freedom to decide.

Part 2

         John Berger first says in Ways of Seeing that an image was first made to conjure up the appearance of something that was absent and that eventually the image will outlast what it represented. He’s correct when he says, “no other relic or text from the past can offer such a direct testimony about the world which surrounded other people at other times” (Berger 10). I absolutely saw this in Matt Chmielarczyk’s iPhone photo exhibit. The images of his daughter through her pain and happiness were striking. In that moment you can see the love and adoration a father has for his daughter. The light he sees her in and it translates beautifully.

         When Berger writes about assumptions we make about art, he discusses that our learnt assumptions obscure the past. They mystify rather than clarify (Berger 11). I saw this with one photo in particular in Matt’s exhibit. He captured 4 images of his daughter in the car, clearly looking like she was in pain. Following the series of images I only assumed that it was from her struggles with her leg. Fortunately, Matt happened to be at the gallery that day during our class. I was lucky enough to overhear him tell stories of certain pictures. It put some of the images into a whole new perspective. As for the image of his daughter in the car, it turns out that she was in pain but not from her leg. She had just accidently burned her finger and she was mad about it. As Berger said our assumptions could obscure how we see things. I made an assumption on where the pain stemmed from which is logical considering the timeline of the photos but really it was a completely different catalyst. 

Citation:
Berger, John. Ways of Seeing. London: British Broadcasting Corporation, 1972. Print.