DAY 258

PHOTOGRAPHIC CURIOSITIES

Photographic Collages

MANY WORLDS WITHIN ONE

An old fable tells of three blind men who come across an elephant in the jungle. As each man touches the animal’s tail, ear and trunk, respectively, they begin to argue, each insisting on the exclusivity of his own limited perspective. None of the men can conceive of a creature that could possess the vastly divergent characteristics described by his companions.

Quantum physicists have suggested that our universe may contain scores of additional dimensions and an infinite number of alternative universes, all seamlessly wrapped around each other. We are provided a glimpse behind the veil of such multidimensionality through Thomas Kellner’s photographic collages.

Rather than limiting himself to one angle and one moment, the photographer has collected a series of moments, views and perspectives, drawing them together in perhaps one of the best visual metaphors for postmodern philosophy. If modernism is represented by a single photograph of the Eiffel Tower taken at a particular time and place, Kellner’s work is postmodern in its all-encompassing, holistic nature: The tower is seen from all angles simultaneously.

The collages bring to mind the vision attributed to the Zapatista movement of southern Mexico: “We want a world with enough room for all of the worlds that the world needs to really be a world.” —DJS

Beijing, Great Wall of Mutianyu; © 2006 Thomas Kellner Paris, Tour Eiffel; C 1997 Thomas Kellner.