Tuesday, July 26, 2022

Travel Tuesday : Meaning


I recently spent an hour exploring the remains of Fort Hunt, along the Potomac River between home and Mt Vernon.  The bunkers are generally locked, open only for special tours, but someone had broken off the lock on one section and the door was propped open.  I didn't spend a lot of time, it was dark and damp, and smelled funny. This was in a room with no light in it, I turned the flash on and took a shot in the dark.  

I wonder, what does this represent? Is it a real person? Or someone's desired person, or feared person?  Is it a space alien, or a hallucination from good or bad dreams?  

I wonder what does it mean to the person who painted it?  Is it an expression of fear, or love, or longing?  Is it merely a way of leaving a trace that the person who created it was in a forgiven place? 

Was it planned, or did it just flow out of the brain of the person who painted it.  

Does it appear the way the person hoped it would? 

A guy standing near me on the subway recently had an interesting tattoo, it got me to thinking, what does it represent? What does it mean to him? What message does he hope others find in it? These are all complicated layers of meaning.  Meaning is not one dimensional. 

14 comments:

  1. Wow. You sure have given this a lot of thought.

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    1. Oh the ways my brain works sometimes (read Thursdays post.)

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  2. Somebody's attempt at forging Edvard Munch's The Scream? It's kind of creepy.

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  3. You have an inquiring mind!

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  4. Seeing that graffiti would make me want to leave that room, though I like some people's tattoos and wonder what they mean.

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    1. Socially we don't talk on the metro, I would love to hear the stories some days.

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  5. That is quite a lot to think about! I saw a woman with one arm completely covered in tattoos recently. I "wondered" much the same way.

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  6. When I taught, every so often I would showed my students a piece of art and they wrote about the art work using the various layers of meaning that you mentioned, also letting them know that there was no right or wrong answer. I loved reading their responses...so much variety, plus it gave me insight to them as a person.

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    1. I love asking questions that have no wrong answer

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  7. Hi, stop in from High Riser. I wonder about lot of things. Mostly art.
    If you have time stop in for a cup of coffee.

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