Silence
Why are we silent when we look at photographs?
why is it that without exception we are always quiet when we look at photographs? Do these two
complete each other, photographs and silence? Do we read a photograph when we look at it? Or is
there a sound in photographs that forces us to listen or be quiet?
More than seeing photographs, we hear them. They begin to speak in vastly different sentences.
They tell us about themselves, about their space, their time, the relationship Between people and ultimately about us. But not all of them speak well. Not all of them attract us.
It’s rare when a photographs hold us, its rare when a photograph is short but complete.
Photographs tell us stories, only stories. They top and tail the truth in order that we believe them. And we believe them. But just as they prove themselves to us they let us go and it’s only our belief that creates everything. There is a secret amongst all good photographs which others are not privy to and the first sentence of that secret is always the same: “see me.”
But when a photograph speaks of silence, when it speaks of time expanding in that silence ; it is only sound, a delicate sound, an occasional whisper that becomes significant, and builds for us, out of silence, the space and all the unsaid words. Words and even the world are saturated in sound and silence. When one is present, the other is not. And always, the one that is not present becomes more essential.
