Ever come across an image or photograph that documents a seemingly intangible perspective of the real world? An event, natural occurrence, a chance moment...an image captured from real life can say so much. But at the same time this visual evidence can say nothing at all or baffle further. Where it might be cliched to call something of this nature 'surreal', I prefer the idea of fictional and non-fictional elements mashing together before the eyes of the witness (or camera) creating a strange transient visual story. The above collage The Curious Thing demonstrates this combination. The boy with glasses was extracted and drawn from a classroom photograph I found in National Geographic. In the original image, the boy is reaching out to touch a snake being handled by his Teacher. My appropriation transfers the boy's tactile curiosity to an aerial aspect as he extends his arm to touch an enormous sea water spout. In a uncanny way, the water spout shares the long sinuous form of the snake's body. The image of the water spout was also from National Geographic.
