The Story of the Fairy Tale

I came across this old story at the SurLaLune Fairytales site some time ago while researching elements of classical storytelling. It's written in 1905 by Carl Ewald, a danish writer I had never heard of before. It's a charming little thing I thought I might share. 

ONCE upon a time, ever so many years ago, Truth suddenly vanished from out of the world.

When people perceived this, they were greatly alarmed and at once sent five wise men in search of Truth. They set out, one in this direction and one in that, all plentifully equipped with traveling expenses and good intentions. They sought for ten long years. Then they returned, each separately. While still at a distance, they waved their hats and shouted that they had found Truth.

The first stepped forward and declared that Truth was Science. He was not able to finish his report, however; for before he had done, another thrust him aside and shouted that that was a lie, that Truth was Theology and that he had found it. Now while these two were at loggerheads--for the Science man replied to the attack vigorously--there came a third and said, in beautiful words, that Love was Truth, without a doubt. Then came the fourth and stated, quite curtly, that he had Truth in his pocket, that it was Gold, and that all the rest was childish nonsense. At last came the fifth. He could not stand on his legs, gave a gurgling laugh, and said that Truth was Wine. He had found Truth in Wine, after looking everywhere.

Then the five wise men began to fight, and they pummeled one another so lustily that it was horrible to see. Science had its head broken, and Love was so greatly ill-treated that it had to change its clothes before it could show itself again in respectable society. Gold was so thoroughly stripped of every covering that people felt awkward about knowing it; and the bottle broke and Wine flowed away into the mud. But Theology came off worst of all: everybody had a blow at it and it received such a blasting that it became the laughingstock of all beholders.

And people took sides, some with this one and some with that, and they shouted so loud that they could neither see nor hear for the din. But far away, at the extreme end of the earth, sat a few and mourned because they thought that Truth had gone to pieces and would never be made whole again.

Now as they sat there, a little girl came running up and said that she had found Truth. If they would just come with her--it was not very far--Truth was sitting in the midst of the world, in a green meadow.

Then there came a pause in the fighting, for the little girl looked so very sweet. First one went with her; then another; and ever more... At last, they were all in the meadow and there discovered a figure the like of which they had never seen before. There was no distinguishing whether it was a man or a woman, an adult or a child. Its forehead was pure as that of one who knows no sin; its eyes deep and serious as those of one who has read into the heart of the whole world. Its mouth opened with the brightest smile and then quivered with a sadness greater than any could describe. Its hand was soft as a mother's and strong as the hand of a king; its foot trod the earth firmly, yet crushed not a flower. And then the figure had large, soft wings, like the birds that fly at night.

Now at they stood there and stared, the figure drew itself erect and cried, in a voice that sounded like bells ringing:

"I am Truth!"

"It's a Fairy Tale!" said Science.

"It's a Fairy Tale!" cried Theology and Love and Gold and Wine.

Then the five wise men and their followers went away, and they continued to fight until the world was shaken to its center.

But a few old and weary men and a few young men with ardent and eager souls and many women and thousands of children with great wide eyes: these remained in the meadow where the Fairy Tale was.

Carl Ewald,  "The Story of the Fairy Tale" (1905)

Translated by Alexander Teixeira de Mattos. The story is included in Spells of Enchantment: The Wondrous Fairy Tales of Western Culture, edited by Jack Zipes.

Available: http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/introduction/ftstory.html

EVERYTHING IS GOING TO BE ALRIGHT *

Three days to assemble what always seems to contain a whole lot of  fragmented thoughts and nerves of doubt and confusion. This always happens at crunch time, some kind of weird stage-fright.  Rewriting, reworking, rethinking. How, what, when, where, and why.  Only a few more weeks after this to pull it all together. And at this point, I must say it all feels very daunting and quietly exciting. I love making this work. It consumes many hours of many days, and I still don't wake up and see the point where I want it to stop, only things I wish to develop and explore. 

 Harold, a Skull and a Rummaging Roo...

 So, about a week or two ago we went up the country to Taradale to do a weekend of shooting. If it's cold in Melbourne, it's freezing up there.  We went to see a couple of friends who live in the midst of the old gold-mining country. Across the road from their house are some woods with old mining holes, old mining gear, and enough trees and branches to confuse anyone wandering around in the pitch black of night.  We've been to Taradale in the summer, but never ventured into the snake pits I believe those woods to be at that time. So in cover of the cold, five layers of clothing and adventurous spirits we spent two nights outside discovering a world that lives right behind the darkness.

 The first night was by far the most successful. We managed to get two shots that I'm happy with, and that presents a new and slightly different mood to some of the others. Lately I have noticed that the shots are becoming darker, but not without a sense of humor.

(Rummaging Roo (working title), work in progress, © Dida 2008)

The first one, which has the working title of Rummaging Roo (as of now all the images in the series are untitled and will most likely stay that way), almost came to by itself. We came across a site in a patch of trees with a fallen tent (barely visible behind the roo), old bottles, cans and shoes left by miners way back when combined with some more recent stuff. I was told later that a girl who used to live in my friends house had gathered it all from the woods, and that it was her secret place we had found, left long ago to the mercy of the harsh bush weather. I tried not to change the site too much, but had to spread some of the stuff around that the girl had placed in and around an old milk crate just to create a little more sense of chaos. I completely fell in love with the authenticity of these old things left there and could almost sense both the miners and the girl wandering the woods with us.

 The shot was done fairly quickly. I say fairly because none of my shot can be labelled quick, but this one almost came by itself. I decided to go with the roo for a few reasons. One, we were right in roo country, and I've grown tired of the bunnies for now. Having shot it once or twice with the mask on, I decided to move it so that the face underneath became partly visible. The mask then looks directly at us whereas the man is focused on the stuff in the crate. A lot of my work contains things pointing to things out of order. Hints that can guide or confuse, a cross-section of the 'here 'and the 'there', pointing to the journey back and forth from the interior to the exterior, the borderland of reality and fantasy.

The shot, as of now, is made up of two main exposures. One is processed two different ways and then combined with a second exposure to make the final image. I wasn't all that happy with the trees in the shots I did with the roo, and ended up replacing it with one I did of just the site. Because the light is so erratic it's fairly easy to combine several exposures and almost impossible to say where one ends and the other beings.

The man in the background came spontaneously. I didn't really think he would work, but as I work on it, he's making more and more sense. He's disruptive and confusing, slightly intimidating almost. His blue is a welcome spurt of colour within all the brown, yellow and green. This shot still has a lot of work to be done, but looks promising.

(Still-life of Bird & Skull (working title), work in progress, © Dida 2008)

This shot of a bird and a skull came almost out of nowhere.  A friend had kindly lent me Harold, the taxidermy bird, which I was very excited about. I hadn't planned much not having seen the woods before other  than deciding on props to bring, so I decided to set one up just to see how good, old Harold would look in a photograph. And Harold, never the one to disappoint, did extremely well pecking away at a skull we have seen before (in the shot of the bunnies in the grass). 

I found a tree, or part of one at least,  and hung the mask so that it  would face Harold and placed him leaning into its mouth. The branch behind the mask looks like it could be holding it which I like to think might be someone just outside the image. There is something slightly disturbing about this shot I can't quite put my finger on.  It's all shot in one exposure, which is then processed differently for some segments of the image. This one also has lots of work left on it, but is definitely a keeper. As a still-life it stands out from the others, adding something else to the mix. I'm thinking Harold will re-appear down the track, or should I say Rabbit Hole... 

I'm a bit apprehensive in 'explaining'  the shots yet. Sometimes they speak of one thing, sometimes of others as I work on them. I am becoming more and more content with the balance of light and dark in the overall series, not only just through the use of light painting, but also through the variation of mood in the individual images.

With 9 images as of now, I have a lot of figuring out to do on the overall sequencing. Do I let it go 'the classical' way with an overall narrative, or do I put it together in a way that will throw people off and leave them a bit uncomfortable? And if so, how do I then do that? I am leaning more and more to the latter way (not surprisingly perhaps) thinking I might not want you to feel all that comfortable. Familiar in some ways perhaps, but not quite at ease. 

Still, with much to do and little time, moving forward. 

*Title of artwork by Martin Creed

Falling inwards

 The year is nearing its end and the two final reviews are lurking near the door. First review of this semester went beyond expectations and helped me figure out some of what my work represents and the how's and why's I do it.  I found myself to be an analyst in denial...

The semester so far, in regards to creating new work, has proven easier said than done. Many shoots cancelled and poor organization skills on my own behalf have put pressure on the final remaining weeks. Some images have had to be re-shot, some never made it out of the sketchbook and some simply don't work in context with the others.

              (7 Apples 2 Legs, New edit, ©Dida 2008)

 As of now there are many pieces on the table that need to be put together or put aside. I am currently doing the post on a few images and did some test prints this week, which will hopefully help 'paint the bigger picture'. In the works is still the image of the apples. I did a reshoot, but missed a bit on the angle, and ended up with a shot that said something completely different than the initial one. So, I went back and did the post again, this time adding another part of one exposure to a part of the original image and adding a new element, the barely visible key. 

A few other newbies are also in the post works.

   (Portrait w/ skull, work in progress, ©Dida 2008)

This portrait of a woman with feathers and a skull came out of an idea for another shot I didn't get to do during one shoot. I shot the image several times with different amounts of light, exposures and angles of lighting, and though this shot is a lot softer and out of focus than the others it still has something about it I like. As of now it sits in between the two skulls and brick images from last semester. As a triptych kind of thing they seem to be working together.

I have started thinking about sequencing a whole lot more now that I have about 9 images finished or still in progress. I don't know if they will all make the final cut, but it has been good to try and work out the order and the overall narrative look to some extent.

There are still many more images I would like to do, but I am feeling the pressure of there being less and less time left. I spent a fair few hours yesterday being more or less frustrated soft proofing and test printing four images, some more successful than others. To judge the outcome of what will happen when the inks hit the paper is hard. Everything is harder when paper competes with a light box (the deceiving computer screen) in terms of luminosity. But the outcome is so much more rewarding when you get it right.  My test prints aren't there yet, but with a little fine tuning and polishing here and there, I think they will be.

As usual I find the statement a nightmare to write even having written it a few times now. I am still not completely comfortable with the reading of it and can't quite decide on the level for personal angle. I've done some new research but having done this project over some time now it has come to a natural crawl. I came across Image and Imagination (2005) edited by Martha Langford thinking it would be a gem of a read, but ended up skimming most of it without finding all that much of interest. If not much else, the introduction helped fuel some thoughts and confuse others, as per usual.

I've also had a look at At the edge of the Light, Thoughts on Photography, & Photographers, on Talent and Genius (2003) by David Travis and found the chapter ' The Plot Thickens Everything, Photography and the need for narrative' (p.80-96) interesting.

 What narrative does better than any other medium of expression is to directly address the question of what we think we know – not about being particles of the matter-of-fact world or elements of a logical puzzle, but rather about being human. (p.95) 

This one still has me thinking...