{"id":3459,"date":"2019-01-18T18:56:42","date_gmt":"2019-01-18T23:56:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/oook.info\/blog\/?p=3459"},"modified":"2019-01-19T06:53:32","modified_gmt":"2019-01-19T11:53:32","slug":"allegories-and-agglomerations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/oook.info\/blog\/?p=3459","title":{"rendered":"Allegories and Agglomerations"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><center><br \/>\n<a data-flickr-embed=\"true\"  href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/blackmerh\/30038108278\/in\/photolist-MLna5A\" title=\"vent Allegory\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm2.staticflickr.com\/1818\/30038108278_2b1900d169.jpg\" width=\"490\" height=\"500\" alt=\"vent Allegory\"><\/a><script async src=\"\/\/embedr.flickr.com\/assets\/client-code.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><br \/>\n<\/center><br \/>\nI&#8217;ve been thinking about this image ever since I captured it back in August, and wondering how to explain what I saw, what it means, and how it fits into my evolving sense of personal engagement with photography. <\/p>\n<p>The train of thought came about during a yoga nidra session, as I lay immobile for 40 minutes or so with no other visual stimulus than a ho-hum quotidian ventilation duct on the ceiling 15 feet above me. The suggestion was that I close my eyes, but they decided to remain open. The eyes seem often to have minds of their own. The wider context included about a year of deep and deeper immersion in photography, including lots of reading and writing and thousands of photographs studied and taken.<\/p>\n<p>Contemplation of the metal duct provoked the insight that <b>narratives unfold<\/b> &mdash;the case with most tessellations, and also with the presentation of groupings of images, exemplified by my <a href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/blackmerh\/albums\/72157701469865582\">galleries of faces on rocks<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/blackmerh\/albums\/72157675535478448\">other materials<\/a>. As one looks and studies and ponders, unexpected visions and associations arise, and underlying realities emerge, or (as it might be) are <i>imagined<\/i>.<\/p>\n<p>\nThe duct itself is pretty simple: a utilitarian presence with little or no artistic intent, a piece of unpretentious industrial design, one of many thousands of ducts, formed of sheet metal in a way that is sensitive to function and to market pricing, and surely not imagined by designers and manufacturers as the inspiration for anything. Geometrically it&#8217;s just a triangle, mirrored and then mirrored orthogonally into a symmetrical diamond shape. But upon contemplation it&#8217;s clear that there&#8217;s more to it: a something else that might be a Creature manifests, equipped with eyes and even a tongue. And suddenly the duct is  not so simple, and inspires the viewer to consider Unfolding, and Creaturehood, and Allegory.<\/p>\n<p>\nNamaste, tout le monde.<\/p>\n<p>\nThe next morning I returned with a camera and found that the Creature was still in residence, and was as provocative as it had been the day before. <\/p>\n<p>\nThe <b><a href=\"http:\/\/oook.info\/ffsm\/\">Full-frontal Spiritual Manifestations<\/a>: gods, godlets, daemons and other beings<\/b> project seems a direct outcome of the adventure with the duct.<\/p>\n<p>\nAddendum: the wee hours found me considering that <b>Agglomerations<\/b> consist of Agglomera, and that the singular would thus be Agglomerum; Agglomeratio would be the act of gathering up Agglomera. By itself, <center><a data-flickr-embed=\"true\"  href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/blackmerh\/32661129138\/in\/album-72157701469865582\/\" title=\"30xii1832\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm5.staticflickr.com\/4813\/32661129138_cce7f5466d.jpg\" width=\"333\" height=\"500\" alt=\"30xii1832\"><\/a><script async src=\"\/\/embedr.flickr.com\/assets\/client-code.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/center> is just an oddly-shaped rock, but in company (<i>Agglomerated<\/i>) with others of its ilk, other possibilities emerge:<center><br \/>\n<a data-flickr-embed=\"true\"  href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/blackmerh\/32661129138\/in\/album-72157701469865582\/\" title=\"30xii1832\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm5.staticflickr.com\/4813\/32661129138_cce7f5466d_m.jpg\" width=\"160\" height=\"240\" alt=\"30xii1832\"><\/a><script async src=\"\/\/embedr.flickr.com\/assets\/client-code.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script> <a data-flickr-embed=\"true\"  href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/blackmerh\/31594248307\/in\/album-72157701469865582\/\" title=\"30xii1833\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm8.staticflickr.com\/7869\/31594248307_8cbcdac480_m.jpg\" width=\"159\" height=\"240\" alt=\"30xii1833\"><\/a><script async src=\"\/\/embedr.flickr.com\/assets\/client-code.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script> <a data-flickr-embed=\"true\"  href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/blackmerh\/39439289771\/in\/album-72157701469865582\/\" title=\"DriftInn1i1817\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm5.staticflickr.com\/4727\/39439289771_3ab6e60398_m.jpg\" width=\"160\" height=\"240\" alt=\"DriftInn1i1817\"><\/a><script async src=\"\/\/embedr.flickr.com\/assets\/client-code.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>\n<a data-flickr-embed=\"true\"  href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/blackmerh\/25254064567\/in\/album-72157701469865582\/\" title=\"DI6ii077\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm5.staticflickr.com\/4648\/25254064567_c1d3c31b79_m.jpg\" width=\"159\" height=\"240\" alt=\"DI6ii077\"><\/a><script async src=\"\/\/embedr.flickr.com\/assets\/client-code.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script> <a data-flickr-embed=\"true\"  href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/blackmerh\/40107796352\/in\/album-72157701469865582\/\" title=\"DI7ii059\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm5.staticflickr.com\/4741\/40107796352_e0f979045a_m.jpg\" width=\"161\" height=\"240\" alt=\"DI7ii059\"><\/a><script async src=\"\/\/embedr.flickr.com\/assets\/client-code.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script> <a data-flickr-embed=\"true\"  href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/blackmerh\/39011709825\/in\/album-72157701469865582\/\" title=\"DI25i18072\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm5.staticflickr.com\/4608\/39011709825_4b7f9f2ea7_m.jpg\" width=\"160\" height=\"240\" alt=\"DI25i18072\"><\/a><script async src=\"\/\/embedr.flickr.com\/assets\/client-code.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>\n<a data-flickr-embed=\"true\"  href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/blackmerh\/38760731184\/in\/album-72157701469865582\/\" title=\"DI2i1876\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm5.staticflickr.com\/4681\/38760731184_c7b6d49234_m.jpg\" width=\"154\" height=\"240\" alt=\"DI2i1876\"><\/a><script async src=\"\/\/embedr.flickr.com\/assets\/client-code.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script> <a data-flickr-embed=\"true\"  href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/blackmerh\/29870536858\/in\/album-72157701469865582\/\" title=\"Wass29vii18079\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm2.staticflickr.com\/1795\/29870536858_9ce5f4f7f4_m.jpg\" width=\"164\" height=\"240\" alt=\"Wass29vii18079\"><\/a><script async src=\"\/\/embedr.flickr.com\/assets\/client-code.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script> <a data-flickr-embed=\"true\"  href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/blackmerh\/44674167650\/in\/album-72157701469865582\/\" title=\"28xii1816\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm8.staticflickr.com\/7803\/44674167650_b961cc540c_m.jpg\" width=\"180\" height=\"240\" alt=\"28xii1816\"><\/a><script async src=\"\/\/embedr.flickr.com\/assets\/client-code.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><br \/>\n<\/center><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I&#8217;ve been thinking about this image ever since I captured it back in August, and wondering how to explain what I saw, what it means, and how it fits into my evolving sense of personal engagement with photography. The train of thought came about during a yoga nidra session, as I lay immobile for 40 [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33,15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3459","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-lexicon","category-photography"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/oook.info\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3459","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/oook.info\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/oook.info\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oook.info\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oook.info\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3459"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/oook.info\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3459\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3463,"href":"https:\/\/oook.info\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3459\/revisions\/3463"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/oook.info\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3459"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oook.info\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3459"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oook.info\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3459"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}