“To Inner Life Expressed” [Reflections on: Berger, John and Mohr, Jean, with help from Nicholas Philbert, Another Way of Telling, NY: Pantheon Books, 1982, 308p. – page 284-page 286)
Memories just co-exist, no “sequences” are there;
Things stimulate our synapses with feelings, thoughts – like where
A smell can trigger hope, or fear, or set us in a whirl
Of passion, joy, exuberance, of “first love” with one’s girl.So too with photos – juxtaposed, no sequences exist
Unlike a film whose reel roles on (unless it breaks, but fixed –
It then resumes its drive to end of narrative or yarn;
Resolving story baked right in – suspenseful, doc, or charm.John points to Eisenstein, who talked of film-cuts in his craft.
Of energy between each splice, each part supplying half –
“Equivalence”, “recurrence”, or a “conflict”, or “contrast”;
But balance shifts there from the reel – relentless to the last.The montages more balanced are, no drive to final frame
Exists (unless some words there are, but there the text’s to blame);
So viewer’s eye can scan about at will from pic to pic;
Just as our memories are scanned, for they each co-exist.John comments pix return to life – the life of viewer’s thought –
Experience now fills each gap, kaleidoscope-like brought –
Appearances take on new form as memories flesh out
Each ambiguity perceived – “explains” what it’s about.That gives ideas for my work in days which lie ahead,
With stills or sets like montages through which one’s eyes are led
By rules of composition, or the ways pix are arranged;
“Think memory, and how it works – so Spirit can bring change.Thanks Holy Spirit for this.
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