They just fumbled around with the square of paper in their hands until someone else pointed out their images in the photo. Although we are now living in extremely visual times, I claim that we are still mostly looking at the picture surface instead of seeing the true content of the image. It may be that we are just too dazzled by the everyday flood of images to see through the surface of any single one. But we need to look deeper into a picture to understand the reality the images around us are creating. Only if we realize the power and potential in an image, can we begin to create reality ourselves, through images.

Just as those aboriginals had to learn to see through the thin surface separating the image from the world they knew, we too need to learn to see through the transparent boundaries in our way of thinking – i.e. “It’s just a picture”. Or we should think of the image as a mirror (which, of course, is a particular kind of image) always looking back at you. Are we just blindly viewing pictures without giving them a chance to confront us, and augment our way of thinking and feeling? Ideally, there should be some intellectual exchange between us and the images we see.

We really need to think outside the box, because there are two different – but definitely equal – realities on either side of the picture surface. Russian scientist Anatoly T. Fomenko, who has a deep understanding of these different realities, summarizes the reality of his mathematically inspired drawings in these terms: “One can consider these images to be photographs of a strange, powerful, and fantastic mathematical world—one that exists, regardless of how we perceive it, according to its own special laws”. So, it doesn’t matter at all if the world depicted in an image differs from scientifically validated reality, and vice versa! Exploring different realities by creating visuals is a kind of pseudoscience. Basically we just need to know what we are doing, and respect the laws of the reality we find. We need vision!



Here is another concrete example of a picture that guides us straight into another reality: 19th Century illustrator Gustave Doré’s visualization of Dante’s Divine Comedy, this from the third section, Paradise.

If we really want to impress people, we need to be bold and look beyond the most obvious meanings to make a difference. We all have the power to make images come alive, so there is no reason to be boring and stuck in clichés! Lastly, here’s something for your inspiration: But Does It Float (http://butdoesitfloat.com/). A great blog-like source of thoughtful interaction between amazing images and penetrating minds. Enjoy!

Taina Tirkkonen
Art Director
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Activeark Ltd.