Saturday, October 3, 2009

Ways of knowing

Sometimes, just Googling or looking it up on Wikipedia isn't enough. You want to see a picture. Not only that, you want to see a lot of pictures. Just so you can get a flavor, or an idea for the next piece of art or whatever you might be doing.

Google image is ok, but for real, hard-core picture hunting, I go to one of the photo sites. And, over time, that's turned out to be Flickr, because it's easier to use than some of the others (like Photobucket). So, for example, if I want to look at Siamese cats or quilling (a strange little paper art I've never gotten into) or raku pottery or dichroic glass, I go to Flickr and look at pictures. I'll narrow down my searches or expand them as the case may be.

It's not just to look at pictures of art, too. For example, down here on the border between Mexico and the USA, we have a lot of drug trafficking. One of the patron saints of Mexican drug runners (but not not not recognized by the Catholic church) is la Santa Muerte. In fact, it's to the point where the local policia have decided enough is enough and have taken to bulldozing roadside shrines to her. This is serious business, but it's also a spiritual devotion.

Going to the Wikipedia link above, or the newspaper article will give you a taste, but suppose you want a real flavor of what it's all about? Flickr, my friends. (Or your own favorite photo site.) Plug in Santa Muerte and you get pictures. Like this one, Altar a la Santa Muerte (Altar to Saint Death), with the acerbic comment below, "Aparentemente La Santa Muerte también acepta dólares." ("Apparently Saint Death also accepts dollars.") If you don't know the language, Google Translate is good at giving a very rough translation.

Anyway, that's a way of knowing, which is to root through other people's pictures and see what they find valuable. If you never think you're going to get out to Tunguska, Siberia, to see the site of whatever it was that exploded overhead in 1908 (meteor or comet, scientists are still not sure), you can go look at pictures. And learn.



No comments:

Post a Comment