Critique of Krista's piece

At the first glance, Krista’s photographs remind me of Jerry Uelsmann’s works. Especially these two (on the right). I was impressed by the vitality comes out from both of their works, The combination of organic plants and human body makes me think of the mysterious relationship between human and the nature. However, Jerry’s pieces mainly choose one organ instead of the whole human body, the human part always is always enlarged and looks stable and peaceful.  That is also the impression I got from the left photo of this series, that one looks more peaceful and a more harmonious relationship that the human has with the nature. When I read this piece, I read from the right to the left, and viewed this order as showing a progression. For the right one, I felt it showed a struggle that the woman is making and then from the right one I saw a beautiful result came out from this struggle.  In the right one, we can tell that the woman is fighting against something on her wrist, her  facial expression speaks about the pain that she is suffering, and since her wrists are still tangled together, I can feel a strength on that part, which makes me feel the invisible power that she is fighting with is a strong power which is equal to a human’s limits.

For the man’s picture, with his knees on the ground, the gesture looks more like nurturing something instead of fighting against something. Maybe that is the reason that many of us thought the right one can express the idea of pain more. Although that may not be her original intention, I still think the mixture of human and other creature is very interesting, For visualizing the pain, probably the man’s gesture can look more unnatural and uncomfortable. His body can be twisted and maybe there are vines tied around his body and he tries to get himself out from it? Or maybe the thing grows up from his body should look more dangerous and sharp, such as a thorn. I think I would feel painful and uncomfortable if I see a thorn grows from a someone’s body. Then it will be more obvious the two elements (the plant and human) run counter to each other instead of one is cultivating another.

I like the texture on the surface of the image, which helps me establish an association with pain. However, I prefer the cracks only appear on human body instead of on the whole picture, so it suggests that the body is undertaking the pain. The human body becomes a battlefield for fighting against physical pain. Maybe a simpler way is to use real properties, like put mud on the body, in order to make the body differentiates and stands out from the background.

In the discussion, Alexa and I mentioned that we can “hear” sound from these still images. Probably an audio element can be added into this piece. If the image is made by two layers, the audience need to tear the first layer to see what is underneath, the upper layer can be made of material that makes very harsh sound. Or the image itself has a rough surface, the plant is not only framed in the picture, but also pierce through the paper, points to the audience. Silvia also suggested that the color of these images can be darker, these photos now are in beautiful light setting and pleasant looking, probably the experience that viewers get from them can more uncomfortable, so that the viewer kind experience some torture as people in the pictures are going through.