Exercise

In this exercise we were asked to capture a series of images that speak to the concept of “The Distance Between Us”

Response

This exercise made me think about the paradox of Social Media.  On the one hand, the images help distant relatives keep track of each other, but on the other hand they can distract people from their real-life company and create separation.  All of this in the pursuit of an image to show the world.

I am lucky enough to have three daughters each with two children and so I have six grandchildren (I have a son too but he doesn’t use social media).  They all live in Lincolnshire whilst I live and work in London during the week and the Cotswolds at weekends.

Seeing all of their images on instasgram helps me see how my children’s and grandchildren’s lives evolve and what they are up to, but at the same time, when I see the images, it always makes me realise how far away from each other we live.  This is another paradox and is why ‘the distance between us’ brought these images to mind.  I have therefore chosen to curate selected images and comments from their posts in response to this exercise.

Fig 1, 2 and 3 below show each of my daughters and their children.

I am carrying out this exercise after reading forwards and so the concepts of Internal and External context are now top of mind.  Looking at Fig 1, 2 and 3 the comments support the mood of the picture.  The pictures are meant to show some joy or happiness and the comments support that.  These only serve to reinforce the mood of the picture.

My Select

My select is something different.  Sadly in November 2017 the children’s mother passed away at the very young age of 50.  My daughter chose to post this image after her mother’s death, it is an image of her mum hugging her granddaughter (therefore my daughter’s daughter and my grandchild too).  Thinking of internal context, the image shows a grandmother hugging a baby, this is a nice family snap.  The original context and the internal context align.  But the external context changes everything, the comment added by my daughter “That hug, I need that right now mum” speaks volumes to how much the person is missed and that they are gone.  Look again at the image and it provokes a sense of sadness and loss.  There is still not enough information to understand if the person has just moved away or has passed away but either way, sadness is evoked.  The image has not changed, but seeing the external context makes us look at the image differently and for me highlights “the distance between us”.