Technical Difficulties, Please Stand By

2031: Shooting in some random park, Toronto CA

Feeling like that leafless tree standing in the front yard. It looks like I won't be able to step into a darkroom until… who knows \(` O')/ So let's dream together: I have been working on-and-off on this project concept for over two years, mostly researching ancient religions/traditions/cultures, archaic alphabets, the limits of human sight and temporal distortion of recalled memories.   And, yes, the distraction persisted; I don't understand how a person sitting alone reading can be interpreted as a signal he/she wants company.

The project focuses on the alternative perspective, from the popular projection of violent enmity, that portrays aliens (Steve might be a better descriptor instead of alien) as monsters. How do we know unidentified flying objects (it's a bird, it's a plane…) look like slimy dragon-like things? How do we know our interstellar neighbours are hostile? They could just as easily be friendly - like a stranger helping you with directions or holding open the door for you. Could it be that we are confusing our interstellar neighbours with a dystopian memory of being attacked by earthbound or seaborn beasts?

Maybe someone used an emoji that left us scratching our heads trying to figure out what's going on , - , As a people, we have come to understand that we are diverse, are we able to extend the same disposition to what, one day, we might find out there?   I'm a fan of sci-fi movies and novels; if you're not into this genre, that's OK, we don't need to dream this particular dream together.

I had planned to finish shooting the images by the end of this year (many things got in the way, not just the lockdown) - shooting, then printing in the darkroom; shooting, printing in the darkroom and reshooting, if necessary. But it looks like I'm going to need to take a different, more strategic, approach. Because I'm not able to get into the darkroom to create prints based on one or two ideas at a time, I'm going to have to sketch out the entire series of potential photos then shoot and print (whenever the fates decide) all at once. And "so it goes", to borrow the phrase from the creative genius, Kurt Vonnegut.

Maybe there is a Santa Claus out there,

❤ Christina