Five years ago I heard Joel Meyerowitz speak about his photographic project dealing with the destroyed World Trade Center. When asked what it was like at the site where all of the pieces of the Center were being sorted and stored he said that the pieces had been “cataloged” into piles of like items, with “everything…in its place,” like a “library of images” (1). The description of the library as a kind of placeholder for like items drew a striking comparison to my own artwork as well as a coincidence because I am a librarian as well as photographer. His words prompted me to begin thinking of my artwork as a catalog.
Objects in a library are cataloged according to a science, requiring consistency in sorting things so that people can find them later. My own work would be put into the library category of serial, “…appearing in parts or intervals” (2). A serial also implies that it is indefinitely continued. Serials are the wild card of the library, unpredictable and ever changing, as I have always viewed my own artwork.
My artwork began as and has continued to be a visual discussion of my curiosity with things that seem out of place, aberrations in nature, the perfect “serial.” Leaves that have unnatural curves, flowers that are missing or have gained an extra petal; these are some of the things that draw my attention. I gather these kinds of objects and then scan them into the computer via flatbed scanner.
After years of working on this series I find that I have amassed quite a number of pieces. Continuing to mentally catalog my work, I sorted my images according to type. This process has been astounding, because it has become clear to me that I tend to choose the same kinds of objects even though my intention was to choose them based on their differences.
The cataloging process is something that all photographers do, whether they choose to use the library terminology or not. It is the nature of a photographer to gather material, whether analog or digital, and organize it in serial form. It is our human nature to find patterns and repetition. Choosing to acknowledge our patterns, to be aware of the collection of images we’re making, may not happen until we’re called to it as I was by Mr. Meyerowitz.
I’ve found this process to be immensely helpful in focusing my attentions on the vocabulary of images that I’ve created. I do see my artwork as a serial; unpredictable, ever changing, and certainly indefinitely continued.
1. National Public Radio, “Joel Meyerowitz.” Fresh Air.
2. Merriam Webster Collegiate Dictionary OnLine, < http://www.m-w.com/dictionary>
