I was listening to "A Souvenir of Camber Sands" recently, the recording of a Throbbing Gristle show from 2004.
In his announcement at the beginning, Genesis P-Orridge says about Jhonn Balance, the co-founding member of Coil who had passed away a few days before, and to whom that show was dedicated, "He shall be the shadow of a flower".
Of course, that made me think about my shadow drawings.
I don't want to say that I see souls of passed away beloved ones in the shadows that I draw, but in some way this idea comes close to my consideration for shadows.
Plato disposes of shadows as not being constitutive of reality at all, and emphasizes the importance of perceiving the true form of reality rather than the mere shadows...
Sure, a good point, Plato.
But aren't shadows, on the other hand, so obviously immaterial, so decisively volatile, that the philosopher should contemplate them yet a little longer, trying to assimilate them?
No no, I don't want to misinterpret or deconstruct the allegory of the cave in a little blog post -
I just think that the freed prisoner, once he has discovered what really caused the shadows that he saw, still has a lot of things to learn by looking back at the shadows often to better understand how the world is made up - -
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6 comments:
The cave/shadow thing.... wasn't P being metaphorical? Aren't some aspects of your shadow drawings, too? Anyway, this one is a lovely gesture.
Metaphorical yes, in the sense that he uses the allegory to say that our human life corresponds to those shadows, and the real world which is the cause of those shadows (and which the prisoner would be able to see outdoors) corrensponds to some divine ideal - of which most of us ignore the existence, and once we'd see it, we wouldn't want to return again - or at least: If we returned, the "fellow prisoners" who still only know what they saw during all their life, wouldn't want to believe us.
Hm... in that sense, I wouldn't say my shadow drawings are metaphorical.
nice post. thanks.
Thanks for your comment.
Ah yes, the shadows of history, something our politicians should pay attention to, accept they are usually caught up in the revolving door of mirrors instead
I wish I could disagree with you, Lorena ;-)
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