poa 4 (kylie truth)
poa 4 (kylie truth)
digital c-type print, 76.2 x 76.2 cm
2008
the watermark and the image are equal
the watermark is a validation (if by necessity, a secret code) of the image, but it would not exist without the image. therefore the image is also a code, something that signifies but does not completely explain the watermark. both are half-truths, but perhaps less than half a truth, because something is missing (hidden) from both the image and it’s signature.
when you have 2 halves of a truth, which one do you choose to be the watermark (the fleeting mist) and which one is the image (the solid and immovable)?
(naturally you would make the watermark water-tight, constant, and the image would be the thing that changes… but since they share the same space, 2000 pixels square, it’s reasonable to doubt that this is in fact the case)
[there is also an assumption - a hope - that understanding both the watermark and the image will provide us with confirmation of the truth of either one of them]
this picture is derived from photos of Kylie Minogue. who is she? all we have are photos, it might be possible to collect all the photos ever taken, and yet would we still be any closer to the truth of who is Kylie? (or, anyone)
here are 2 images, superimposed:
- the pixels of a photograph of Kylie, they look like atoms viewed at a magnification of 10,000,000 using an electron microscope
- a composite of 1 pixel-wide edges of 500 photographs of Kylie, arranged in a grid (all we see are the edges, there is emptiness inside)
(that emptiness is the truth, a blank slate, tabula rasa)
perhaps the truth is hidden, but it is visible waiting to be discovered
there is a connection between the external and the internal, and evidence of one is needed to understand the other. what describes the rock in the stream, the shape of the rock or the shape the water makes flowing over it? in this way, part of this image is the truth, the other is the key, the cryptographic watermark and the image it describes, you can see them both, as clear as 50% daylight, but which one is the key and which one is the truth?
interpretation 1:
the atoms are the truth: the edges are the code to validate/unlock/re-constitute the image from the particles.
interpretation 2:
the samples of all the images are the code to uncover the truth of the atoms; only by knowing the whole can one understand the particles.
both are shown here, so you can see them. in reality, it would only be possible to see one at a time. the other would be hidden. but what purpose would that serve, when both the image and the codifying watermark are symbols for something that cannot be shown?
source images:
related notes: