The Power of Images or How a White Wall is actually a Story waiting to be written.
In a 2010 Ted Talk, Jonathan Klein of Getty Images commented: “Ansel Adams said, and I'm going to disagree with him, ‘You don't take a photograph, you make it.’ In my view, it's not the photographer who makes the photo, it's you. We bring to each image our own values, our own belief systems, and as a result of that, the image resonates with us.”
Contrary to what it might seem, images are not static or even inert things. They take their meaning from one’s perspective and they become dynamic memories that develop new meanings with time.
Images are messages that compel us to think about the world, and sometimes, to act.
I was asked in an interview what are my ways to teach my kids “girl power.” http://mom.me/lifestyle/32245-karina-miller-launches-art-gallery-kids/. I believe girl’s power is also in a broader sense, kid’s power, the possibility of anyone with a young and sensitive soul to have a voice and to believe in themselves.
That question still resonates with me. Perhaps in a subtle way, in an unspoken way, I teach my kids about such things as power, solidarity, compassion, differences, love, imagination, creativity, vulnerability, strength or art, with images; and that for me is what represents kid’s power.
This post is about how to celebrate the power of images and ideas in our lives and our children’s lives: about living with those images that speak to our heart.
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“Girl Power/Kids power” -
Courage, adventure, strength, vulnerability, curiosity… There are so many ways to embrace this complex idea of been both, self-confident and compassionate, adventurous and curious, active and thoughtful. These artworks reflect some of these ideas:
Differences/diversity: Different places, feelings, emotions, people, cultures. Each of these artworks speaks of differences (and similarities) between the imagined world and the actual world in their own, different, way. For a sensitive soul, these images are stories waiting to be told.
Compassion: According to the dictionary, compassion is: “a feeling of wanting to help someone who is sick, hungry, in trouble, etc.” These images speak of a connection with others’ feelings and lives outside ourselves. It represents the power of feelings and emotions.
Animals: “Our task must be to free ourselves... by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature and its beauty.” Albert Einstein
Challenges of Being a Teenager: There is not better definition of adolescence that David Bowie’s song Changes: “Changes, time to face the strange…” These artworks speak of changes and strange feelings and emotions, like being strange to oneself.
Friendship: These images speak of a bond made of love and companionship.
Love: The Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu said: “Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage.”
There are so many other ways to think of the power of art and images. What other images inspire you and why?
Karina Miller
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