Winterblue + Essay

Winterblue is a study of color within a wintry, monochromatic landscape that investigates the significance of home and community in the post-pandemic era.

For most, the pandemic profoundly impacted the notion of home and sense of community. Winterblue reflects on the pandemic’s impact while embracing technology and new avenues of creativity in the face of extraordinary global challenge.

The installation reminds us of the significance of home’s role during lockdown and to the loss of community as a result of enforced isolation.

Three years later, what are the lingering impacts?

12 Photographs:

Shot close to home on an empty, back road in early 2019 – today the area is packed with commuters and construction vehicles, preventing a safe shoot.

As more people sought to leave the city, our community like many across the US witnessed a substantial increase in people seeking a new way of life.

Our demographics and town character transformed so notably that marketing leaders initiated an ad campaign around a plea for kindness that remains in use today.

Captured with a medium format camera, the images are blurry and present a dreamy, hazy recollection of life before the pandemic.

Serving as metaphor, the premonition underscores the extent of our ignorance of the damage we are inflicting upon ourselves and the planet.

Contact Sheets I & II:

In January 2023, I rediscovered the essence of our community through an unforeseen event that showcased the best qualities of our town, and reminded me why I moved here.

The experience deepened my appreciation for winter, the season for which I moved 30 years earlier. Its cold, darkness, and isolation inspired me to be out in it, observing atmospheric conditions as they actuate a camera’s field of vision and reception of color.

The images here are in focus, and illuminate the sharpness and vividness of the present moment while affirming the clarity and wisdom gained from the pandemic.

The iPhone drew intensity of color from the monochrome and enabled the capture of this landscape in below zero temps, high winds, deep snow, and darkness.

144 12 square inch photo tiles compose Contact Sheet I with 103 in  Contact Sheet II. Apart from cropping, all photographs are unaltered.

The MOTE:

In the center of the installation is the MOTE, anacronym for ‘MY OWN THERAPEUTIC ESCAPE’ and short for “the remote”.

The MOTE is a multimedia and sound capsule concept designed for immersive digital media, light, and remote gathering experiences.

The MOTE enables access with privacy allowing users to engage with art, music, light and each other in innovative ways, signaling LWS’s interest in combining art, technology, and collaboration to develop therapeutic artistic interventions.

Winterblue I:

Inside MOTE Winterblue I is playing, an AI-generated classical piano composition, 2.30 min in length. AI-generated music combines user input along with algorithms to analyze and replicate the patterns of existing compositions to generate unique compositions.

Classical music stimulates the body’s release of endorphins and dopamine and improves memory, focus and attention while providing a welcome respite for overburdened eyes.