Perspectives

Perspectives Series:  

How do we all experience this world?  

This is one of the main questions that has driven our interest in creating the Perspectives Series at Behn Gallery.  

During our quarterly rotations of artwork, you will occasionally see this heading,  Perspectives Series, followed by a topic.  

As Jim and I have been shooting together over the past few years with other photographers, it is hard not to take notice how amazingly different we can capture the same subject.  

This obvious observation calls the question, do we all experience this world the same way?  Is it possible, that when we each see a spider, it inspires fear in some and awe in others.  As we bite into an apple, the crunch, the flavor all hits us in a unique way?  Perhaps, none of us experience anything exactly the same way.  

This is a powerful idea especially as it relates to our responsibility as human beings to our fellow humans.  Sometimes, it is easy to assume that we understand what others are feeling, seeing, hearing, etc., but if something as straightforward as capturing a photograph at a moment in time can vary so much, then it seems fair that this is the case for every single experience we encounter from moment to moment in our lives.  

What if we spent more time asking and listening about what other’s experience is from the mundane to the profound?  Would we naturally become more open-minded, more empathetic, more accepting, and more connected?  

I’d like to think so.  

Do unto others as you’d have them do to you…the Golden Rule.

Wouldn’t you like to have others take the time to see your point of view?  Acknowledge your happiness, sadness, and frustration?  Offer a helping hand?  All unsolicited?  

When this does happen, it inspires us to offer the same courtesy to others.  Somehow contagious and flowing.  A stream of goodness, honesty, and humanity.

We have so much more to gain by appreciating each other’s differences and respecting their place of perception than we do trying to convince them that what we see is the only truth.

Perspectives.  A powerful idea.