In his seminal television series, Ways of Seeing, John Berger describes that, “as we inhabit the world, we constantly perceive it, only later naming the things we see, making language insufficient for conveying the way we see the world. One way that people can re-create their way of perceiving … is through images.”
He makes clear that the role of the artist is to communicate the ephemeral, the verbally and sometimes logically inexpressible part of the soul that yearns for recognition. This compulsion to speak, even if only to himself, is at the center of any artist’s mission. And yet, what Berger suggests is that, through art, we try not only to convey the world but also to understand it more completely. The reception of any concept is paramount to the effectiveness of its description. The viewer, therefore, becomes an intrinsic part of the art, standing at the finish line, waiting to reflect and absorb its meaning.
