Melting in the Cold

In 1935, photographer Alfred Stieglitz did a series of photographs of clouds of which New York Times art critic Andy Grundberg said:

The Equivalents "remain photography's most radical demonstration of faith in the existence of a reality behind and beyond that offered by the world of appearances. They are intended to function evocatively, like music, and they express a desire to leave behind the physical world, a desire symbolized by the virtual absence of horizon and scale clues within the frame. Emotion resides solely in form, they assert, not in the specifics of time and place."

This winter of cold has me wrapped up in many layers of clothing, bundled up in body, causing my mind to melt, it seems, by virtue of forced hibernation. Ritually, I climb into my wonderful bed at night and snuggle deeply under the down comforter. Last week, I was reading Just Kids, by Patti Smith. Glancing up from the page completely absorbed in the energy of her recounting her relationship with Robert Mapplethorpe, my eyes were drawn into the folds and undulations surrounding me; my mind soft and quiet. The inspiration of Patti's words about their passion and process of making art propelled me out of bed, into the cold of the room and into my studio to get a camera. With winter chill in my bones, the spread of the white cotton cloth covered down became like an abstract tundra to explore. In the midst of looking through the lens, the edges of common reality melted, leaving me with the thought that Stieglitz might have felt as I did while he photographed his clouds.

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Photographs © Ellen Giamportone All rights reserved.