The Eyes of the Ocean
The sea, a luminous gray, spills across the bottom of the picture. The brooding sky, like an echo of the sea, spreads itself across the top portion of the photograph.
Between the two of them, a town huddles in shadow. The viewer finds herself unable to look away from the photograph. There seems to be some dark truth in it.
“Invisible Borders,” a color photograph by Mae Kelley, was taken from a boat about a mile off shore. The perspective captures a portion of the town that runs along the beach, but the buildings, silhouetted in the afternoon light, blend into a strange, dark mass. Only the windows of a few houses, reflecting the afternoon light, are visible to the observant eye, and the town looks small and forlorn, like a wrecked ship waiting to be saved. …show more content…
A golden, whitish light pierces the grayish-teal sky as if it were thread weaving an intricate fabric. The sea flows into a liquid swirl of silvers, blues, and grays. This purposeful contrast between the dark, empty town and the rich, vibrant water and sky adds to the photograph’s unusual perspective, making it seem as if the viewer were looking at human civilization through the eyes of someone more sympathetic to nature than the average technology-minded human being.
The work suggests how completely the majesty of nature can overshadow many human accomplishments. The result is a strange beauty that causes the viewer to ponder the way the natural and civilized worlds interact.
“Invisible Borders” is one of many beautiful, thought-provoking images of
Massachusetts seascapes in this exhibition of Kelley’s work. Like the rest of the exhibition, the photograph invites us to contemplate ourselves within the larger natural world that surrounds
The sea, a luminous gray, spills across the bottom of the picture. The brooding sky, like an echo of the sea, spreads itself across the top portion of the photograph.
Between the two of them, a town huddles in shadow. The viewer finds herself unable to look away from the photograph. There seems to be some dark truth in it.
“Invisible Borders,” a color photograph by Mae Kelley, was taken from a boat about a mile off shore. The perspective captures a portion of the town that runs along the beach, but the buildings, silhouetted in the afternoon light, blend into a strange, dark mass. Only the windows of a few houses, reflecting the afternoon light, are visible to the observant eye, and the town looks small and forlorn, like a wrecked ship waiting to be saved. …show more content…
A golden, whitish light pierces the grayish-teal sky as if it were thread weaving an intricate fabric. The sea flows into a liquid swirl of silvers, blues, and grays. This purposeful contrast between the dark, empty town and the rich, vibrant water and sky adds to the photograph’s unusual perspective, making it seem as if the viewer were looking at human civilization through the eyes of someone more sympathetic to nature than the average technology-minded human being.
The work suggests how completely the majesty of nature can overshadow many human accomplishments. The result is a strange beauty that causes the viewer to ponder the way the natural and civilized worlds interact.
“Invisible Borders” is one of many beautiful, thought-provoking images of
Massachusetts seascapes in this exhibition of Kelley’s work. Like the rest of the exhibition, the photograph invites us to contemplate ourselves within the larger natural world that surrounds