Shadows

“What do you see?” is almost always the first question I ask when I show an art work to a class.

With this unusual art work from the year 2000 by a British husband-and-wife team, Tim Noble and Sue Webster, it’s hard to even know what you are seeing!

“What do you see?” So as I showed this work to my class on the second-to-last day of AP Art History I got several responses: “Is that a pile of animals?” and then, “Are those people on the wall?” and then, “Is that a naked woman?” Of course pragmatic Sara kept asking, “What kind of an art work is this??? Are they real animals?”

This is a work I never knew about until poking around on the internet for some new art works to teach at the completion of the 5,000 years of art history. This work intrigued me…I’m still not quite sure what to even call it, an installation??

But since pragmatic Sara looked suspicious, let’s look at what this work is and try and figure out something about it. Officially, we have a pile of 88 stuffed animals and a projector throwing a shadow on a wall of the pile of animals. Art???

The little-kid in all of us is eager to learn if the animals are real. Yes, they are real stuffed animals. The artist Tim’s father was a huntsman and he killed and stuffed the animals. When his father died, Tim and Sue created this piece, called British Wildlife as a tribute to him.

What more do you need to know to make sense of this art work???  That is the question I ask once we have kind-of established what we see. Sooooo….what more do you need to know?

Rami asked, “What is up with the people on the wall?” Tim and Sue assembled this pile of stuffed animals, turned on a projector, and the shadows on the wall are self-portraits of Tim and Sue, backs to one another but seemingly joined together.

Zein asked why they made a pile of stuffed animals. Sure, they could have displayed them in a traditional way, but you’d need lots of space for 88 stuffed animals, and actually Tim thought it was like a memory of his childhood, and he wanted something other than simple hunting trophies. Piled up like this they create a single image, a summary of the past.

Farouk, the young man who loved the theme of the reclining female nude throughout the history of art, reminded us that the woman is naked. Yes, Farouk, and this work is all about nature in its wild state, so I guess clothes seem unnecessary. Actually, both Tim and are naked, just like the animals.

Mohammad wondered about these “shadow puppets” and how they figured out how the shadows would work. He said several times, “Where are Tim and Sue?” Of course, Tim and Sue are not there at all. When we see their shadows, we think Tim and Sue must be there, but in fact it’s the pile of animals lit by a projector that throws their silhouette on to the wall. Natasha looked at this wonder and said, “Even when you know that’s the case it’s hard to believe there’s no apparent link between the two things. Normally our shadow follows us around, but here Tim’s and Sue’s have taken on a life of their own.”

In the other class Yasmine mentioned that this is a “three-dimensional take-off on the old theme of a still life painting.” She was quite proud of her pronouncement and she and her friend Gheya commented that this pile of animals is not about the scientific view of animals, and they decided that this work is about the element of surprise.

Then Sammy, after stroking his chin in a rather scholar-like gesture, wondered if the theme of the work is not about contemplating appearance and reality, the contradiction of what we accumulate and the effects they produce. Yanbo, still trying to decide if this is a sculpture or what, is caught between the decision that this is a pile of animals or a double-portrait, or both. Fawzi mediates and suggests that both points of view are right, reminding us “that no one has a monopoly on truth.”

Farah, one of our philosophers in the class, wonders if this a symbol of the eternal link between animals and people—then her eyes dance as she says, “Maybe it’s a reminder of the beast in all of us and the humanity in all of us.” Youssef wonders if the double-portrait is also an allusion to Adam and Eve—and being driven out of paradise.

Rami, looking forward to reading The Republic this summer on the suggestion of art history alum Talal, gets excited as he announces that this is a little like the cave allegory Plato writes about. We discuss that story, one of the most important allegories in the western canon, and how Plato explains that men are like prisoners chained up in a cave with their backs to the entrance. All they can see of the world is the shadows thrown on to the back wall of the cave. As humans, we are prisoners of our senses and our view of the world is not truth, but an illusion. The class debates how British Wildlife plays with the same theme by presenting an actual fact of the group of stuffed animals and the illusion of the couple we think we can see. And we wonder if we can ever not be deceived by appearances.

Let’s look back to the photographs taken by thousands of families of the last month. May and June are months full of graduations. You can’t scroll down very far in Facebook postings without coming across cap and gown photos, caps in the air, smiles blazoned across serene and exuberant faces, hugs from family members and wishes for a happy life. Two weeks ago I marched in yet another graduation...as a teacher I have marched in 26 graduation ceremonies, posed in photos with happy grads dozens of times, and bid farewell to yet another group of interesting, earnest, naïve, determined seniors. I have a great photo from the KA graduation as Queen Rania spoke to the senior class as they listened intently to her words of wisdom of never forsaking kindness. Then the photo op of photo ops came: hats aloft and frozen in time for all time.

Those graduation photos are summaries of our past. But one of the things I always remember to do is to look past the “borders” of the photos, look past the appearances of happiness and ease of graduation, and look at what shadows are thrown on the wall from these accomplishments. There is usually heartache and down days. There is usually frustration and failure.  In the shadows of these awesome graduations there is usually an admixture of terror and joy, unease and patience, impatience and delight. We need to be mindful of all of these as we enjoy the appearances of graduations.

What shadows will be reflected from today’s pile of stuff? What else do we see? What is the truth of this moment in time? As I look back on the 2013-14 school year, I see a pile of graded tests and essays, sweaty palms trying to make it through some tough moments, and I also have a wonderful “shadow,” a gift from my student Daniel.

In the last week of the course Daniel decided to write a journal sheet with many of his favorite moments of the year. He decided his favorite word of the year was a word he coined, a word he calls, ‘Leistlerism.’ Let me quote Daniel:

Vocabulary Word of the Year:

            Leistlerism, inspiration through the exploitation, in a good way, of curiosity. All art falls under the Leistlerism movement. All art devours our attention, digests us to wonder, and spits us back out, humbled. Without our curiosity the world would not be more than lines and piles of rocks. It is in honor of Mr. John, his beast of an Art History class, that I may summarize all art under one ism dedicated to him, to pay homage to the knowledge he has gifted me, the limits his class has aided me in abolishing, the new questions that have been implanted, and the new prospective and understanding of the World Mr. John has granted me. While it may not seem more than words, for me, and I too believe that for Mr. John, words are the greatest gift humanity has been granted, this ism which I dedicate to Mr. John is a thank you for the interest he took in me, when I was undecided about taking his class, throughout the course, and now at the overwhelming finale. Thank you Mr. John for the understanding you have given me and the opportunity to express myself, which I may sometimes have abused, through these Journal Sheets.

Look for the shadows that enrich and burnish these celebrations of life!