While reading and exploring chapter one, I was intrigued and completely awe-struck by the Spiral Jetty found in Great Salt Lake, Utah by Robert Smithson. For me this photograph, no matter what angle it was taken from had a deeper meaning that I could see. I was so intrigued before I finished reading the chapter I looked up more angles online. And it also amazed me that such a man made earthwork could be so beautiful and appealing. Once I saw the picture of the Spiral Jetty I really just wanted to go out and see it for myself. To better understand the size of this artwork there would have to be someone standing or walking along the spiral.
I love the ocean or water, so this for me was the one picture that stood out in my mind. I love the way that the background seems so far away. The spiral reminds me of being confused and hectic. It reminds you that life is crazy, the water found within the spiral and outside of it is murky and dirty, to me signifying that sometimes not everything can be beautiful and perfect, but just beyond the murkiness, off to the side of the picture you see bluer water, as to say that once you beat through all the hard times and dirt or muck you encounter there is something brighter and better just beyond your sights. For this to be in a natural setting in the middle of what seems like an impossible place to be, the spiral gives me hope that I am the one standing out just beyond everyone else, like they are standing atop the hill waiting for me to figure out life and where to go. The hill is a representation that there is life waiting, and not everyone is pushing through at the same pace or under the same circumstances. It almost gives me the feeling of someone judging me, if I were the spiral, waiting for something else to happen. But I am able to see the blue water and I am not willing to fail. This is a beautiful picture and can be taken many ways, yet for me it gives me hope that each day is going to be hard and I am going to get down, murky and dirty yet I will have the opportunity to pick myself back up and move forward. Each day brings its own beauty, sometimes the beauty comes and goes, and to me that is represented by knowing the area can and probably will flood, we may drown and fall a few times, but we will always rise again to something even more incredible, a new day.
2 comments:
Hi Kristina, my name is Alyssa:] I really enjoyed your blog post. I, too, wrote about the Spiral Jetty and actually got the chance to visit it a few years ago while I was in Utah with my family. Until I read your blog, I had never thought about the Spiral in that way before. But you're right, all of the colors and nearby surroundings truly do create a very calming, peaceful feeling.
I too found your interpretation very interesting. Your idea of how the murky colors were like hard times and the blue waters as peaceful times was a great idea of it's content. When anyone thinks of hectic craziness usually what comes to mind is an out of control spiral, but the reassuring blue waters that surround the spiral gives hope to calmer times ahead. It's a very uplifting idea.
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