27 June 1905
“Could the past be a kaleidoscope, a pattern of images that shift with each disturbance of a sudden breeze, a laugh, a thought? And if the shift is everywhere, how would we know?”
This dream described time as constantly shifting. I was less so inspired by the way that time functioned in the world than I was by the quote describing the past as a kaleidoscope. I started to photograph reflection in the water along Canal Road, trying to visualize my own sort of kaleidoscope that led me to a place that was similar to reality but had a different quality to it. This image of the gate at the Canal Exploration Center is disorienting in a way that relates to the idea of a shifting timeline; it’s difficult to differentiate between the layers of the water, the canal gate, and the bridge behind it. There’s a refraction that happens that is reminiscent of the inside of a kaleidoscope and makes the frame seem like a new location altogether.
10 June 1905
“In a world where time cannot be measured, there are no clocks, no calendars, no definite appointments. Events are triggered by other events, not by time.”
The world in this dream has time that is a quality, not a quantity. The quote made me think of the things in our reality that exist without any influence of schedules or timely obligations. I wanted to photograph nature taking its course, existing without being impeded on by humans. Even though the area I was in has a fair amount of interference, there is an unhurried-ness to the water along the canal that embodies the way that the world exists when it’s left to its own devices.
26 April and 10 May 1905
“Everyone lives in the mountains.” “Each person who gets stuck in time gets stuck alone.”
These two dreams operated in similar ways to me; they were worlds where time isolates people in one way or another. The houses up on the hill on Canal Road stood out to me as pretty literal depictions of the town where people lived as high as they could, but I also was reminded of the one where people get trapped in the past and how it confines them into loneliness. I photographed this house because it felt secluded, despite the little network of houses along the side of the road. The trees also appear to hide these particular houses, relating back to being separated from society or living life alone. It felt metaphor to the idea in the story that height became a social status and was not always as wonderful as it seemed, and it provided extra time for it to be filled with emptiness and solitude.
