And to celebrate that time off, I have purchased, under the advisement of Eric Myer, a fantastic new digital camera! Which I have no idea how to properly use! I thought it would be nice to up the quality of the photos used on this site whenever possible. We’re all a little tired of the grainy, vertical rectangles that are iPhone pictures. So, with my shiny new free time, I have set about attempting to learn proper photography.
What? You all look worried. “Will The Productive Cough now be a blog about sunsets and kids laughing as they play in the sprinklers with their unreasonably good-looking fathers?” your eyes seem to say.
Hell no, people. Nothing is going to change! To prove that, I would like to show you the first photograph I took EVER with this new camera:
I call it “Avoidance.”
So you see, friends, this new piece of mysterious gadgetry will only serve to enhance the stupidity of this site. Besides, I’m not going anywhere NEAR a sprinkler with this thing.
*I will not be held liable when they look at you askance and ask you to leave. Thanks.
In this image, Cole mines the personal in order to address and interrogate the ways in which the present is understood. She interrogates assumptions and opens the space between understanding and perception. Drawing on the fictions of history and speculations on the future, she amplifies the ethics of being invited to speak and being invited to listen. Hers is a powerful artistic practice that complicates how we understand our place in the world.
Stupid me… I completely missed that overarching artistic theme. I just thought she accidentally took a picture of her floor. I shoulda gone to art school.
EXACTLY. That is EXACTLY what I was going for… now if you’ll excuse me, I need to consult Merriam-Webster…
Perfect.