Representation

At this point I am having some difficulty in breaking down my image as much of the meaning I intend to bring to it will be added through techniques in the next stage. As it stands, however, I can see two sides of the image: one that celebrates a connection with people and life and the other that shows the increasing separation of humanity from nature. The picture was originally taken from a book on witches and witchcraft and shows modern day Wiccans celebrating around the maypole—a very joyous, connected-to-nature, springtime celebration.

The way the photo is cropped brings more attention to the people around the maypole, focusing on two couples in which one parent is carrying a child. This focus emphasizes how the celebration brings people, specifically families, together to celebrate their love for the earth. The focus on the people, rather than the maypole (which is cut off) underscores the importance of the actual participants and what they are celebrating, rather than the objects they are celebrating with.

On the other hand, the pixilation of the photo, done through Photoshop, and this very focus on specific people in the image, tell a different story, one in which even these modern day Wiccans are being manipulated and changed by a modern society that can have a mechanizing and isolating effect. Even though you can make out faces, for instance, you can’t actually tell what the people look like in real life (or even how they looked in the original photo). Instead, you see a vague shadow of a face that no longer resembles something a natural individual. The focus on a few people can also represent the individualized culture we live within—although they are taking part in a community activity, the rest of the community (including the pole itself) is fragmented from the specific people in our view.

--Holly Hilgenberg