Sunday, November 11, 2012

Perception

     Charles Bukowski once said something about the world being smeared with the color of forgotten love. I thought it was a beautiful image, but something about the color stayed in my head. What color is forgotten love? Is it a murky kind of purple, or a deep clear blue; maybe it's a rich red, the color of blood, or a rust red--dried blood.
     I'm working on my senior project, my capstone, and the theme is "Image + Words = Picture". This confusion about what color Bukowski's forgotten love is plays into this idea. Every single person makes a judgement when they see an image. The meaning derived from the image is connected directly to the  culturally agreed upon definitions and personal experiences of the viewer.
     There are things the brain filters out of what we see. The biggest example of this is your nose. It's always there, right in the middle of your vision, but you don't ever see it (well, unless something about it changes like a scratch or make-up). Your brain knows it's there, but it filters it out because there's so much more that you should see. I wonder if that is where the term "right under your nose" came from? You don't see it because your brain has erased it from what you realize you see.

Just a thought....
Stephie

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