Portraits, Faces & Figures
for the Departing Landscape
Who has turned us round like this so that we,
whatever we do, have the bearing of
someone who’s going away?
Rilke
Introduction (revised June, 2017)
The photographs you will see below are for me about anxiety, grieving, despair, anger and fear . . . fear of dissolution of an ideal, fear of the dissolution of our beautiful planet Earth, fear of a tragic future for my children and grandchildren, fear of death. In a way the photographs are self portraits, for they represent what I am feeling now, in early June, 2017 as I revise this project which was originally published in 2010 -- 2011 for inclusion in The Departing Landscape Project. The occasion for this revision was the announcement by President Donald Trump and his administration, in early June, 2017, of the decision to withdraw the United States from the Paris Climate Accord.
Clearly we are living in a time of extreme degradation of all that is sacred: the planet Earth, all its people, the ideal of democracy. The corporate invasion--the corruption--of the United States Federal and State Governments, its presidency, politicians, certain Supreme Court justices, and on and on . . . are a clear reflection of the reckless and neglectful disregard for the well-being of our planet, its air and water and land . . . its people and our sacred democracy. If I thought things were looking really bad for our natural environment in 2007 when I began the Departing Landscape Project, I can now say, ten years later, that the situation has grown much worse. Indeed, without question, we are living in a "Departing Landscape."
Decaying sound . . . the departing landscape . . .
expresses where the sound exists in our hearing--
leaving us rather than coming toward us.
We humans have failed this planet dearly, and in response it is leaving us. The "bottom line" is all that appears to matter to those with great personal wealth and political power-- corporate heads, bankers, very wealthy individuals, etc. Our sophisticated scientists who are telling us how badly and rapidly our planet is deteriorating before our very eyes (350.com) is being denied by our President and his Administration and most all of the Republican Party. Lies that cover overt acts of corruption have replaced any semblance of sincerity and truth. The most sacred lands of the Native Americans are being destroyed for the sake of un-needed toxic fossil fuels. The revised, edited collection of photographs being presented here reflect all the more potently the psychologically-emotionally dark place into which we as a country have fallen in the past twenty years or more. Each day the government brings new assaults to the spirit and the intellect of the American people that makes us feel crazy with frustration, anger, and depression. The entire world is in crisis. For those of us who really know what the cost of all this political-corporate power-grabbing, manipulation, misinformation and personal greed will mean to our children and grandchildren . . . it is a stunningly dark and frightening time.
The images below, in their abstract, dark unsettling moodiness give visual voice to the shadow of our present mode of being. They are images of the fallen; of those who have closed their eyes and refused to see what is happening; of those who have turned their backs and are walking away--as if into a valley of death. The planet, the natural world upon which we humans are completely dependent for our very survival, is in a state of rapid decline.
We have created this world in crisis. We have used and abused the Planet to the point where it has become like a sound that has been struck, and now is quickly spiraling into decay, into silence . . . what American Composer Morton Feldman has termed the Departing Landscape. We have poisoned the waters, the air, the soil. We have destroyed the protective ozone layer. Temperatures are rising. The glaciers are melting. Water levels are rising. The coral reefs are dissolving in the ocean's excessively acidic waters. Costal cities will soon be drowning. Our fresh water is becoming contaminated with toxic wastes to the point of being undrinkable and dangerous to our health, and the health of animals and all forms of wildlife. Our soils and lawns are filled with chemicals which are poisoning our food and water. Our disregard, our lack of reverence and gratitude for the Planet . . . all our failings are finally catching up with us.
We have cast a dark shadow upon the planet. We have shut ourselves off from our hearts and the very source of our life. We are destroying the natural world. We are living in a departing landscape. These photographs merely put a human face on the despair, the denial, the inner crisis, the fear.
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The
Photographs
Image #1 Portraits, Faces & Figures for the Departing Landscape
Image #2 Portraits, Faces & Figures for the Departing Landscape
Image #3 Portraits, Faces & Figures for the Departing Landscape
Image #4 Portraits, Faces & Figures for the Departing Landscape
Image #5 Portraits, Faces & Figures for the Departing Landscape
Image #6 Portraits, Faces & Figures for the Departing Landscape
Image #7 Portraits, Faces & Figures for the Departing Landscape
Image #8 Portraits, Faces & Figures for the Departing Landscape
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Image #9 Portraits, Faces & Figures for the Departing Landscape
Image #10 Portraits, Faces & Figures for the Departing Landscape
Image #11 Portraits, Faces & Figures for the Departing Landscape
Image #12 Portraits, Faces & Figures for the Departing Landscape (Figures in Death Valley)
Image #13 Portraits, Faces & Figures for the Departing Landscape (Man walking away)
Image #14 Portraits, Faces & Figures for the Departing Landscape (Waving goodbye)
Image #15 Portraits, Faces & Figures for the Departing Landscape (Man with closed eyes)
Image #16 Portraits, Faces & Figures for the Departing Landscape
Image #17 Portraits, Faces & Figures for the Departing Landscape (Worried Mother and child)
Image #16 Portraits, Faces & Figures for the Departing Landscape
Image #17 Portraits, Faces & Figures for the Departing Landscape (Worried Mother and child)
Image #18 Portraits, Faces & Figures for the Departing Landscape (Falling man)
Image #19 Portraits, Faces & Figures for the Departing Landscape
Image #20 Portraits, Faces & Figures for the Departing Landscape
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To see more photographs related to the ones presented above, visit my project published in July, 2017: Homage to Giacometti: Introduction--"Portraits" Heads, Faces
This project is but one part of a larger collection of projects under the over-arching title The Departing Landscape Project. Please see visit the other online projects, as listed below.
Introduction to The Departing Landscape project
The Faint Photographs
Portraits, Faces & Figures
Windswept Landscapes & Memorials
Visual Poems
The Combines
In the Woods
The Persephone Series
The Abstract Photographs
Poetry for The Departing Landscape
The Hydrofracking Suite
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Related projects with portraits and figures:
Homage to Giacometti: Introduction--"Portraits" Heads, Faces
Italy
The Angels
Triadic Visual Poems
Family Life
Dream Portraits
The Persephone Series
Studies
Welcome page
which contains the complete listing
of online projects, resume, contact info, etc.
Faint Photographs
Portraits, Faces & Figures
Combines
In the Woods
The Persephone Series
Welcome Page to The Departing Landscape website which includes the complete hyperlinked listing of my online photography projects dating back to the 1960's, my resume, contact information, and more.