"How to See the World" Nicolas Mirzoeff
In the book “ How To See The World” by Nicolas Mirzoeff , he talks about the 1972 Jack Scmitt Picture of the Earth from Apollo 17 spacecraft. This is believed to be the most reproduced photograph ever.
This dominating picture that is quite overwhelming , is beautiful in the fact that it whole, unified and comprehensible. This world that is for everyone, holds an enormous amount of mystery, it is fair to say that we are lucky to be on the planet. Yet because of images such as Apollo 17, it almost becomes an accessible commodity. Something that can be used , and owned. It makes me question my own aspiriation’s, as well as the information we have come to understand. is it correct knowledge , habbit, or laziness? Do we rely on such images to come to an understanding about the world, and does it mean we can own whats in these images? Does the thing in the image actually exist or are they all just pixels/ phenomenon ?
“We assemble a world from pieces, assuming that what we see is both coherent and equivalent to reality. Until we discover it is not”
We are creating our own worlds on a daily basis , we rewrite what has actually happened or often it is staged. Filtering in and out to suit our tastes. Modifying through image to self represent to the world.
“Visual Culture is now the study of how to understand change in a world , too enormous to see but vital to imagine”
It seems we are beginning to no longer rely on learnt knowledge and be settled with that as explanation, but appropriate whats available in order to imagine something different or “better” .