I Almost Dismissed It

October Six Word Photo Story Challenge: “Site or Sight”

It must be seen with intent

It hung near a window at the opposite end of the room’s entrance. I almost dismissed it. The small classroom had been transformed into a gallery space containing six works of art. The products of four years of intense study by the graduating class of 2023.

My first impression was: You spent four years attending Art College, spent tens of thousands of dollars on tuition, and you created…this? The pieces were so underwhelming that I was tempted to turn around and walk away.

I didn’t. I showed them respect. I examined each piece. I gave them my time.

I also shifted my expectations.

I understood what I was looking at. This was not a John Baldessari exhibit. These were conceptual artists in training. A new crop of young talent. Unpolished, raw, inexperienced — illusionaries testing the waters of the Art world.

I made my way towards the sunlight where the installation titled “Disassociation, 2023” — by Meaghan Murray — hung from the ceiling. I realized that I had dismissed it because I had been looking at it from its side when I entered the room.

It was simple piece. A series of found photos strung from the ceiling in four separate layers — a few centimeters apart. They gave the piece depth.

I faced the installation straight on. I examined it with intent. Then it hit me. It was quite the sight.

I was looking at a series of empty portals, windows, openings, frames, grids. The conversation had started. Let your imagination guide you, it said. What do you see? Imagine? Dream? How is it framed? Constricted? Shaped?

Does it help you? Threaten you? Force you? Guide you? Does it dredge memories? Does it fuel desire? Or contemplation?

Is it real? Or imagined?

I realized that I was the only one who could fill those empty spaces. I could ignore them — just look through them — and only see the shadows on the wall. Or…