Signs
A multi-year photographic project by Baltimore artist Jo Brown. The project plays with ideas
of intention, time, and meaning, and is inspired by Italo Calvino, "A Sign in Space" in his
collection of ancient-modern fables, Cosmicomics. I am intrigued by the lack of control that
any artist has over the received meaning of the work. We invest meaning into things that was
not intended, and we fail to see meaning that was. By focusing on this kind of uncertainty,
I hope to foster my ability to understand what is meant (and what is not) by others, and to
allow that my meanings will always be both more, and less, than I intend.
. . .
The Land of Why
"Sometime recently, without much fanfare, Ezra crossed over into the land of "Why?"
He's increasingly familiar with the territory."
D.L., Sunday, May 11, 2014 Mothers' Day
So here you are:
a shadow no longer amusement
but a reason to look
for the thing itself;
a reason no longer
'because'
but a new question
you will ask;
and talk no longer what washes over you
the air you breathe
the comb in your hair
the rough washcloth on your unwilling face
but what you will make and move and seek and find
-- Jo Brown ©2014